[Bristol-Birds] Black-chinned hummingbird

We  had just returned  from a trip to  the Atlanta area yesterday  
(4/25/2004) when  we noticed  a female  ruby-throat  at our  feeder - 
glad I  refilled it  before leaving.  Another hummer  flew  in and I  
grabbed the binoculars to  see  if it  was male  or  female and was 
astonished to  see that  it was not  like  any  I had  ever seen 
before.  Grabbing books  and going  from binoculars to  books I finally 
identified it as the black-chinned male.  He  was tiny, has  black  
where the ruby throated has red with a white band below the black, but 
when he  fluffs his feathers the throat flashed brilliant red .  He 
also shows  tinges  of  red along the edges of his  wings when he moves 
  or fluffs up.  He has a white patch over his eye and one  on his 
shoulders.  His  back  is iridescent green.  He  spent  the rest  of 
the time (at least an hour) before  dark sitting on the feeder or  its  
holder  guarding against the female ruby throat coming back.  He  has a 
really sharp shreek noise  when he is  chasing.  Actually  we  had 
heard the noise  a while before we saw him  and wondered what kind of 
bird  was in the fence  row from  where the sound  came.   My large 
book  on  hummingbirds (Tyrrell and Tyrrell:  Hummingbirds:  Their  
Life & Behavior)  shows him as being only in  the west but one of  our 
books (National Geographic Society:  Field Guide to the Birds  of North 
America) states that the black-chinned  hummingbird  occasionally 
winters in the Southeast.  I  expect he  is  just  passing  through - 
would love to keep him.  Maybe the ruby throats will get their feeder 
back, but we  were thrilled to see this new (for  us) bird.  We do  
have other  feeders that the usual residents can use.
Lois Cox
Bluff  City along the Holston River

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