[TN-Bird] Selasphorus hummingbird (Greene Co., TN)

From: Don Miller <raincrow@xxxxxxx>
To: TN-Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 21:56:38 -0500
18 November 2002
Greeneville, Greene Co., TN

A Selasphorus hummingbird was observed today in Greeneville by Rick
Knight, Don Miller, and Linda Northrop.

The bird arrived at least five days ago at a backyard site in the
downtown area and has been observed (and fed) daily by the property
owners there.  The Greeneville chapter of TOS was contacted yesterday.
Today's observations were the first by experienced birders.

Northrop was present at the site for about half an hour this morning,
while Knight and Miller stayed for about two hours.  The bird was never
observed while perched and never revealed a back view of a fanned tail
(and only a brief front view), so identification was quite difficult.
The conclusion was reached that it is probably an immature female and
either a Rufous or Allen's.

The following field marks were noted:

prominent postocular spot, extending obscurely behind the eye;

faint spotting on the gorget (appeared to be less than would be found on
an adult female);

extensive pale rufous on sides, flanks, and undertail coverts;

solid green down the back and through the rump (if rufous was present on
the rump, it was so faint that it escaped notice);

quite a bit of rufous on the rectrices (more than would be found on a
Broad-tailed).

Since the bird never offered an adequate view of its tail while fanned,
it was impossible to make judgments about relative width of the
rectrices or "notching" of the second rectrix.

Unless someone bands this bird, the species will probably not be known
for sure.  Bob Sargent and Chris Sloan--any interest in coming to
northeast Tennessee?  You might be intrigued to learn that there are
also two hummers currently present in nearby Carter County (an adult
male Rufous on Roan Mountain and a non-Selasphorus species in
Elizabethton) and one hummer in Johnson City (another Selasphorus of the
Rufous/Allen's type).

Anyone interested in the Greeneville bird please e-mail me privately,
and I will contact the property owners to make arrangements for
viewing/banding.  They have been very gracious hosts and are interested
in their little guest, so I am confident that they wouldn't mind
visitors.  However, I wish to do everything possible to ensure that all
courtesies are honored.

Don Miller,
Greeneville, TN



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[TN-Bird] Selasphorus hummingbird (Greene Co., TN)

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