In response to some off-listserve chatting about late fall/winter hummer IDs, I offer a few additional notes: My remark in my last email about the strong wash of reddish-brown on the undertail, flanks and sides of the belly being the "most noticeable" indication of the possibility of a non-Ruby-throated Hummingbird in late fall and winter remains, at least to me, true ... but it certainly is not the whole story. In Kentucky since the late 1980s, we have now had just shy of 50 confirmed non-Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the late fall/winter seasons. All but one (a hatch-year male Black-chinned) have been a confirmed Rufous or Rufous/Allen's type. Nearly 10 have been adult males, with the rest split widely between hatch year birds and females. In all cases of these "accepted" records of non-males, the birds have been photographed and the strong wash of rufous color on the sides of the belly has been obvious. This is not to say that at some times of the year or within the entire population, one could not find examples of birds that don't show such an obvious wash of color on the sides ... but at least in Kentucky in fall and winter, it has been a pretty obvious and consistent character. As a side note ... hopefully, the fact that a record of Allen's Hummingbird (essentially identical to Rufous in imm. and female plumages) continues to elude us in KY will be remedied with time :o) An unintended pitfall that I could have led someone into with the statement would be the inference that the lack of a strong wash of color on the sides of the belly of a tardy hummer is *not* suggestive of something interesting! Other potential rarities including Broad-tailed and Calliope have small amounts of rufous color in the bases of their outer tail feathers and less apparent washes of reddish-brown on the sides of the belly than Rufous ... and imm/female Black-chins are nearly identical to Ruby-throateds in plumage characters. And there are, of course, even more exciting possibilities lurking out there, too! So the bottom line is that the absence of a strong wash of color on the sides of the belly does not automatically mean the bird is a Ruby-throated. There are several other indications of possible non-Ruby-throateds ... one that is also quite noticeable in Rufous is the chip note. Rufous are almost always noticeable if your observation is out-of-doors because their chip note is distinctly different than what you may have become used to with Ruby-throateds. In regards to other plumage, structural, and size differences, the newer field guides are doing a great job of summarizing plumage characters, so anyone with a National Geo or Sibley should be able to sit down and, with a little study, decide if they think they have something worth mentioning. bpb, Frankfort