Greetings --

This noon while walking along Woodland Creek canyon on the St.
Martin's College campus in Lacey, I saw 3 female or juvenile hummers
I was, and still am, unable to identify. They were always in the
shade.

What I recorded at the time was: back nondescript color; streaks on
throat; white throat, breast and belly; buffy (?) sides/flanks; bill
large ~1.5X head length and decurved; small black/dark eye ring
making the eye appear huge. One bird very graciously perched on the
tip of an alder branch for a minute allowing me an
uncharacteristically good view, possibly what is confusing me! Also
seen apparently gleaning branch tips. I did not see it head-on, so it
could have had a small gorget I missed.

The bill would seem to eliminate both an Anna's and a Rufous. I could
be exaggerating the length, but it was large and decurved.

Considered opinions? Wild guesses?


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Douglas Canning
Olympia, Washington
dcanning at nisquallyestuary.org
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