I spent the morning at Robert E Lee Park in Baltimore and was joined by
Duvall & Lisa Sollers, Mark Hoffman, Joe Turner, and Leslie Starr.
We saw a hummingbird that we could not identify at the Stump Dump.
There may be more than one unusual hummingbirds around but the one we saw
and photographed was not a Magnificent.
It is very plump and you could call it fat. Straight bill, rufous on the
flanks, dirty white post-ocular stripe, a band on the lower throat, green
back, and a lot of white on the end of the tail.
We discussed that it could be a Selasphotus sp.
Once I got home I found a picture in Steve Howell's Hummingbirds of North
America. Photo 16.10 shows an immature Ruby-throated Hummingbird with
bright cinnamon flanks that suggests a Selasphorus. This is similar to the
bird we saw.
Joe
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phil Davis <pdavis...>
Date: Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 5:10 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] Fwd: Puzzling Hummer in Robert E. Lee Park
To: MDbirding <mdbirding...>
MD Birding:
Just received this intriguing report from Leo Weigant ...
Phil
From: Leo Weigant <hawkowl...>
Subject: Puzzling Hummer in Robert E. Lee Park
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:06:14 -0400
To: Phil Davis <pdavis...>
Phil, I'm sending this to you because I had trouble posting to MDBird
Group and have to leave right now for the evening. If you could post it
"to All" for me, I would appreiate it. That way perhaps some others
might have a chance to check it out.
Many thanks,
Leo
I hadn't had a chance to look for this bird (traveling) but made my way
there this afternoon, betw. 1:30 - 2:00 PM.
After walking around the Stump Dump site for some time and seeing little
I was thinking about leaving when I noticed movement nearby in the
yellow-orange blossoms in the vine cover beside the road,
practically at my feet.
At first I had only glimpses, enough to confirm that it was definitely
larger than a Ruby-throat, with no red on the face or throat, and
dark green on the back, cap, wings, and rump. One pause while it looked
straight at me confirmed that the throat was gray, with faint, parallel,
vertical striping under the chin, shading into a plain, vaguely mottled
belly. It also showed a dark cheek under the eye. This head-on
glimpse also showed white triangular patch behind the eye which
trailed irregularly away behind it for a few millimeters.
This sighting was very near, within 15 feet easily, but the bird moved
on before I could focus on it as well as later on.
I would not have been so definite about details from just that view, but
with patience I was able to get several more, and better-focused,
views of profile, back, and the tail as it moved around on the slope
below me -- up to 25 yards away before disappearing.
The tail definitely had a dark space below the green rump, and white
corners on the outer two (at least) tail feathers -- both top *and* bottom.
It seemed slightly notched, but I'd have liked a better angle on that.
The above was written without checking any reference books (and, yes,
I made a drawing, Phil), but when I did turn to my big Sibley's and the
Petersen *Guide to Hummingbirds*, I was able to set aside various
candidates: It lacked any red (as I'd seen face-to-face on an Anna's
in California last week) on the throat nor any white above the eye.
Its bill showed no curve (like a black-chinned) and it showed no buffy
coloring like a *selasphorus*. I'd been dubious of reports of its size
for I've seen many Magnificent Hummers in AZ, some of them
a bit larger than this one, but the photos and secifications on
Magnificent hummers in Peterson's Giude set the size range as
4.5" - 5.25" which would make smaller ones only 3/4" larger
than large Ruby-throats, so I began to think that Magnificent is more
likely than my first skeptical responses to early reports and am submitting
this as "Magnificent Hummingbird."
**
**===================================================
Phil Davis, Secretary
MD/DC Records Committee
2549 Vale Court
Davidsonville, Maryland 21035 USA
301-261-0184
mailto:<PDavis...>
<PDavis...>MD/DCRC Web site:
http://www.MDBirds.org/mddcrc/rcindex.html
<http://www.mdbirds.org/mddcrc/rcindex.html>
===================================================
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Joe Hanfman
Columbia, MD
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