Thank you Mark! This was so very informative for me! I live in Utah and since we get Black Chinned and Ruby Throats it is so hard to tell them apart since many times their entire head looks black. So, this really helped! I also had a Rufous last year and he stayed in my yard for a few months! Absolutely beautiful but he was so aggressive and scared every hummingbird away!
Rufous have the reputation for being very aggressive. I think your Ruby-throated birds are probably Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. You are a bit too far west for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Just saw our first one in Nashville about a week ago...finally! Alot of folks down here haven't seen as many like we normally do but they can hang around until November some seasons!
I was fumbling with my camera so I missed the shot and the hummingbird got away but it looked like the hummingbird was totally black. Kind of like the picture you have up on the screen right now. Perhaps it was just the angle of the lighting or a rare melanistic hummingbird. Melanism is a genetic mutation that results in an excess of melanin, making the bird appear entirely black. What was that first shot that you showed was at a Ruby throated hummingbird and just the lighting made it look black? Wow that last pictire looks like what i saw. Very dark looking amatire bord probably.
Like here in Kansas City, almost all of your hummers will be Ruby-throateds. If you have any hanging around in late fall and winter, check them closely as we know some Rufous Hummingbirds winter in that area.
Well I saw my first hummer of the season march 31st, a week later I saw another one the two weeks later another on and haven’t seen one since, I sure am pining for the little fellers , wonder where they are, they were thick at my house last year
I’m sure the females are in the heart of nesting. The center of the male’s territory must be away from your are. They will be back in good numbers once the young fledge the nest and birds start moving south.
