DavidAT
Well-known member
This has stumped my more knowledgable friends. Broad-tailed or Calliope, or something else. Taken in Colorado this week
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Help please, with hummingbird ID
- Thread starter DavidAT
- Start date
A c M
Leading Member
Whatever it is, its a very nice shot!
Szumi
Leading Member
I can't help you with a ID but I like your photo. I'm assuming you used flash from the shutter speed. You nailed the focus, something that is hard at 600mm on one of these birds at the distance you were shooting.
I keep trying to get something like what you shot with my 7d2 100-400 or with that and a 1.4xiii. Can't seem to get the focus nailed though my camera can work the magic on other birds. I keep trying, it is a challenge and I don't have to go anywhere other than the front yard.
I keep trying to get something like what you shot with my 7d2 100-400 or with that and a 1.4xiii. Can't seem to get the focus nailed though my camera can work the magic on other birds. I keep trying, it is a challenge and I don't have to go anywhere other than the front yard.
DavidAT
Well-known member
It sure looks a lot like Anna's based on the images online. Does the location, front range Colorado, rule out Anna's?
DavidAT
Well-known member
Yes, 2 flash units at 1/32 between 1' and 2' from the bird. Camera was at 2.8m which is MFD and like you say 600mm. My previous camera could rarely nail focus with this lens like my D500 can. I used 3D with face detection OFF and somehow it "knows" to get the eye in focus. I also have the lens focus adjusted with the sigma dock.
Since the image was captured in CO, I would lean against it being Anna's or Allen's. I would lean towards a juvi or female Broad-tailed, Rufous, Calliope (in that order) - it is difficult to say without having the bird in hand (to check its outer tail feathers) or without an image of a spread-out tail.
Check these links for more info about each candidate species:
www.allaboutbirds.org
www.allaboutbirds.org
www.allaboutbirds.org
Although the range maps for the Broad-tailed and Calliope indicate they are not candidates, I have captured images of both near Monument, CO.
Nice capture and thanks for sharing.
Check these links for more info about each candidate species:
Broad-tailed Hummingbird Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
A jewel of high mountain meadows, male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds fill the summer air with loud, metallic trills as they fly. They breed at elevations up to 10,500 feet, where nighttime temperatures regularly plunge below freezing. To make it through a cold night, they slow their heart rate and...
www.allaboutbirds.org
Rufous Hummingbird Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
One of the feistiest hummingbird in North America. The brilliant orange male and the green-and-orange female Rufous Hummingbird are relentless attackers at flowers and feeders, going after (if not always defeating) even the large hummingbirds of the Southwest, which can be double their weight...
www.allaboutbirds.org
Calliope Hummingbird Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Magenta rays burst from the throats of the male Calliope Hummingbird as it dances and hovers, performing U-shaped display dives for females. During these displays he makes a sputtering buzz with tail feathers and gives a sharp zinging call. This is the smallest bird in the United States, yet...
www.allaboutbirds.org
Although the range maps for the Broad-tailed and Calliope indicate they are not candidates, I have captured images of both near Monument, CO.
Nice capture and thanks for sharing.
DavidAT
Well-known member
I looked at images online of juvenile rufous and it looks very close. I've certainly seen an adult male rufous around this summer, and he was very possessive of the feeder!
DavidAT
Well-known member
I am also near Monument, CO!
Not sue if this helps with identification but this is the same bird with a few tail feathers showing.
ThrillaMozilla
Veteran Member
Unfortunately, the descriptions and pictures of the females are all kind of lacking in the bird books. I've got lots of pictures like that from Colorado. Odds are it's a broad-tailed, but I don't really know.
upnorth47
Forum Enthusiast
Looks like a juvenile male of whatever species. This time of year they have black dots as their kerchief.
DavidAT
Well-known member
I'm beginning to realize that a definitive ID is unlikely!
All About Birds says "Among other female hummingbirds, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds have paler buffy sides, lack rufous in the rump, and have little rufous in the tail. Calliope Hummingbirdshave only a little rufous in the tail, lack rufous on the rump, and are smaller than Rufous Hummingbirds."I am also near Monument, CO!
Not sue if this helps with identification but this is the same bird with a few tail feathers showing.
I do not see any rufous coloration on this bird's rump thus I am inclined to say it is less likely to a Rufous HB. It comes down to either a Broad-tailed HB or a Calliope (in either case, a female or immature male). If the HB was noticeably smaller than the other HBs, then it is a Calliope; if not, then it is a Broad-tailed. In some species of HB, the immature males can be identified by a black center wick extending into the white portion of the outer tail feathers - I do not remember if this applies to the Calliope and Broad-tailed HBs (I am traveling and cannot view my notes at home). This bird does not have that black wick so if that guideline applies, then this is a female and not an immature male.
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