[texbirds] Re: green backed ad male rufous or allen's
- From: Mark Lockwood <Mark.Lockwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' (texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 21:03:49 +0000
As Matt points out, adult male (ASY) Rufous Hummingbirds very often have green
feathers in the back. This varies from a few obviously green spots to a large
percentage of the back. I had an ASY male in my yard several years ago that
had roughly 80% of its back green which is the only bird that I would call a
green-backed Rufous I have ever seen. As we now know thanks to the banding
efforts of Kelly Bryan, Charles Brower, Brent Ortego and others that Allen's
Hummingbird is not a rare visitor to Texas and they are what I would call
uncommon in the Trans-Pecos in the fall. Kelly has banded over 100 Allen's
Hummingbirds during his intensive banding project that started in 2009. I have
had at least a half dozen male Allen's Hummingbirds in my yard over the past 10
years that are not included in this total. Off course these numbers are
dwarfed by the abundant Rufous Hummingbird (Kelly banded over 3,000 Rufous
Hummingbirds during the same period). In addition to having a complete green
back, ASY male Allen's Hummingbird also have very slight structural differences
when compared to typical ASY male Rufous Hummingbirds. I am lucky to live in a
place where I have had the benefit of studying them closely. I would not argue
with Matt that being as accurate as possible is by far the best route to take,
but it is my opinion that the presence of fully (95-100%) green-backed ASY male
Rufous Hummingbirds has been overblown and are an extreme rarity in the overall
population. However, close observation is required to eliminate an ASY male
Rufous that has a predominately green back.
Mark Lockwood
Alpine, Texas 79830
mark.lockwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:mark.lockwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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