Whatbird.com

I was watching a hummer preening.  The only angle I had was with the sun behind the bird.  When I got a closer look at the picture I was very pleased with myself.  I realize this is an all or nothing, but here goes.

Species

Gender

Age

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

I bow before thee, Master of All Things Hummer!

I'm not even going to try.  To call me a "Hummingbird Newbie" would be overly charitable.

I give it two thumbs up!!

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)

The age answer:

All of the clues are in the outer rectrices (tail feathers).  They are numbered from R1 to R5 (inner to outer) on each side.  Take a close look at both R5s as they don't match.  This bird is going through a molt and looks to have only one feather (R5 on the left side of the photograph) left from what it was sporting when it first fledged.  This makes this bird an after hatch year (AHY) bird making it one year old.

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

The rest of the story.  The picture below shows the tail of a male Anna's.  Note how both mature and hatch year features show on the originally posted bird.  Pretty neat I think.  Chances of getting this combination has to be pretty rare.  In the hundreds of pictures I have seen of all species of hummers I have never seen this.  Next shot is going to be one in a billion when I get this bird in perfect lighting.

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Latest Birds: Sage Thrasher, Ferruginous Hawk, Common Goldeneye

I look forward to seeing that shot