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Allen's Hummingbird |
Extremely similar in appearance to the widespread Rufous Hummingbird, the Allen's Hummingbird breeds only along a narrow strip of coastal California and southern OregonI have a feeder out on my back porch and also the wire basket that is for holding tomato plants up in the summer. They love to land and stay on the wire basket, I had taken it down and then they seemed to be looking for it and I missed them, so I put it back in the tomato tub for good and I can watch them and the dragonflies too, sometimes at the same time. They stay much longer on it then they do on the feeder, which they seem to fight over, chasing each other off. these photos are taken through my sliding glass doors, so have a little bit of reflections on them and maybe not as clear as they could be, but it works for me. I use my Soni camera and put it on the motion or low lighting modes for best results. This is a very tiny bird, with mostly rusty plumage. The male has iridescent red throat with a shiny green back. Male DescriptionGorget (throat) iridescent scarlet. Gorget with elongated feathers projecting slightly to the sides. Top of head and back dull metallic bronze or bronze-green. Sides of face, sides of chest, and flanks plain cinnamon-rufous. Tail feathers pointed, and colored orange with dark tips. Outermost tail feather very narrow. Wings dusky. Chest white. Belly and undertail coverts buffy. White spot behind black eye. Legs and feet dusky. Occasional individuals have orange in rump.Female DescriptionChin, throat, and chest dull white. Center of throat with variably sized patch of red feathers. Sides and flanks cinnamon-rufous. Back metallic bronze-green, head slightly duller. Wings dusky. Outermost three pairs of tail feathers orange at bases, black in the middle, and white on the tips. Middle pair of tail feathers bronze-green, dusky at tips, with orange edges to green base. Next pair out with rufous base, then bronze-green, and black tips. Undertail coverts pale cinnamon.Immature DescriptionImmature similar to adult female, but has less spotting on throat and less rufous on flanks; male more rusty in the base of the tail.Cool Facts
The Origins of Hummingbirds Are Still a Major Mystery
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Photographs by Kay Ekwall and JP Ekwall
Josephine County, Southern Oregon
All photographs and web design by Kay Ekwall ©2009-2022 and may be used by permission only