Shorebirder

UPDATE 9/8/10: It seems certain that this bird is indeed a COSTA'S x LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD hybrid, apparently the first of its kind recorded. ORIGINAL POST: Ash Canyon, in the Huachuca Mtns of southeast Arizona, has been a hotbed of hybrid hummers this year. Reported hybrid combos have been "Lucifer x Anna's" and "Costa's x Anna's". On my first late summer trip to the southwest, I was pleased to run into an interesting apparent hybrid. While watching the feeders at Mary Jo's in Ash Canyon on 3 Aug 2010, I heard a singing Costa's Hummingbird. Upon tracking the bird down, I was surprised to see a bird that resembled a Costa's but had a noticeably long tail. It sang repeatedly while I was observing it, always producing a typical Costa's song. (click to enlarge) Since it was singing a typical Costa's song the bird is obviously part Costa's...but its long tail, projecting well beyond the UTCs, tells us that this is no pure bir...

On our trip to AZ during the first week of August, we recorded 11 species of hummingbird. I was able to digiscope 9 of the 11, plus a hybrid. I've posted my better shots here, trying to include as many plumages as I could. This was my first shot at delving into the hummingbirds of the southwest. The small gorgeted species can really provide an ID challenge, as evidenced by the difficultly eastern birders often have identifying vagrants. At times they can be humbling. Seen but NOT photographed were: Berylline Hummingbird ( Amazilia beryllina ) Rufous Hummingbird ( Selasphorus rufus ) Broad-billed Hummingbird ( Cynanthus latirostris ): adult male adult male immature male likely immature male, due to blue coming into throat and very thin pale tips to outer retrices immature male...blueish tail striking in flight; relative lack of white in tail tip seem to rule out female White-eared Hummingbird ( Hylocharis leucotis ): adult males Violet-crowned Hummingbird ( Amazilia violiceps ) : ad...