No, they don't have little beards. Black-Chinned makes them sound like like pirate hummingbirds, eh? But they are just delicate little females, with green backs and gray bellies. They look an awful lot like Ruby-Throat females, except a few differences have been pointed out to me -- they do a lot of "tail-wagging" while hovering. Their wing primaries are more pronounced. They don't seem quite as green and they have more of an overall gray sheen.
This is the larger of the two and the BC that I saw first:
Sleek beauty
This little pretty I saw a few days later. I saw her at first from across the yard and thought the pink spot on her head was feathers...I'm looking all through my book for a pink-headed hummer! Turns out she was already marked. I posted a message on Humnet and she might have been marked and banded as far away as Alabama! How cool would that be! Unfortunately neither one of the Black-Chinned hummers cooperated with us on banding day. Maybe there will be a chance to try again.
Hummer with a pink spot
1 comment:
for some reason, can't view your vids--hope this changes. Just says 'can't be found on this server'
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