Hello birders.

A couple of years ago, when I lived in Ontario, we stopped over at a
hummingbird feeder on our way to Niagara Falls in the late fall. OUr quest
was a _Selas phorus_ hummer that had been seen there. The bird came in and
we all saw it well, it was a lifer for me, but since it was a female I
could not know exactly which species it belonged to (Rufous or Allen's),
the former being much more probable. So I have been eagerly awaiting the
first Rufous Hummer here in Vancouver, to get a look at a Selasphorus that
I could positively identify. I saw my first today, a beautiful male in the
local park. As I was looking at it, the bird turned around and showed a
completely green back!

I assume that the bird today was a green-backed Rufous Hummer, as there
are no records of Allen's for Canada, but how do I know? Being a neophite
to the _Selasphorus_ problem I would like to know the status of these
green-backed male Rufous Hummers, are they common? Do they become more
common as one goes further south? What do Oregon birders call a rufous and
what do they call an Allen's?

Any tips, ID hints or discussion of this topic will be appreciated.


Al Jaramillo
jaramill at sfu.ca
Vancouver, B.C.