Subject: Odd Selasphorus???
Date: Aug 9 12:14:31 1995
From: Alvaro Jaramillo - alvaro at quake.net



I need some ID help.

First of all, I should mention that Allen's Hummer is common here even
right around my yard, but they are gone. I saw my last Selasphorus about
three weeks ago. Well, yesterday I went to do some birding not too far from
here, but further up the coastal mountains and I saw a _Selasphorus_ hummer.
For some reason, it just didn't look right, something was weird about it. It
kept coming back to these big overflowing water storage containers,
presumably to drink. The bird was green on the back, but with a vivid rufous
rump. The flanks were pale rufous, and the rest of the underparts were
whitish, no gorget on it at all. The bill looked longer than the Anna's
Hummers that I have been seeing lately. The tail had obviously green central
tail feathers, right to the base. The outer tail feathers were dark, with
rufous at the extreme base and white tips. It took me a while to actually
see the rufous, even though the tail was spread. The outermost feathers were
relatively wide, not obviously narrow.

Now here is my problem. I looked it up in the meagre set of references
that I have here, I guess I should go and find myself some good hummer ID
stuff somewhere (any suggestions?). Mainly I looked at NGS, Kaufmann's
Advanced Birding, Howell and Webb's Mexico guide and any photos I could get
a hold of. The rufous rump is typical of immature male Rufous/Allen's, but
these should have rufous bases to the central tail feathers, which this bird
did not. The tail pattern was almost exactly like what is pictured for
Broad-tailed (female) in the NGS guide. However, that species would be
extremely unlikely here on the coast and should not have rufous on the rump,
certainly not as obviously as this bird. I have never seen a broad-tailed,
so lack experience with jizz, etc. So is it possible for an Allen's/rufous
immature male to show so little rufous on the tail? Are there any other
possibilities, like hybrid Allen's-Anna's which could look like this?
This is what I get for not bothering to look carefully at immature Rufous
while I lived in Vancouver! Another reminder to always look at common birds.

I appreciate any comments or discussion.

Alvaro Jaramillo
Half Moon Bay, CA

alvaro at quake.net