[SBB] Selasphorus (Ed Levin)

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

Folks:

This morning, 3/14/2005, I visited Ed Levin CP to look at the _Selasphorus_ 
hummingbirds in the Spring Valley area.  I started in the red-flowering 
eucalyptus beside the horse corral beside the last parking lot.  The wind 
was gusting from 10-20 mph, which made it harder for hummers to feed, I 
suppose, and also to see them.  I saw a few _Selasphorus_ and Anna's and 
then got good looks from the back at a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD.  Dean 
Manley showed up and we watched for a while longer, but were on a run on 
Anna's.  It then moved to the next parking lot, where there is another 
red-flowering eucalypt.  There, I had two _Selasphorus_ displays.  First, I 
had a male do a J-type dive and at the bottom with a stuttering sound 
(interrupted buzz).  Then, a few minutes later, I saw a male doing a 
classic ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRD shuttle flight.  Dean joined me a bit later and 
we found a male that was behaving fairly well so we could get our scopes on 
him.  Dean said he had spent some time the day before studying this 
bird.  The male appeared to be a variant of either Rufous or Allen's.  The 
rufous of the tail extended well up on to the back, but the back was 
largely green.  I thought I could see one or two green feathers in the 
center at the edge of the rump as well.  Above the back, the upper back and 
nape were rufous, and there were green feathers in the crown.  This bird 
seemed to have more rufous overall than shown on the green-backed variant 
Rufous, but with all the variation there is in these outlier birds, it's 
going to have to stay _Selasphorus_ male.

Bill

_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
south-bay-birds mailing list      ([[email protected]])
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/list_fred_archives%40plaidworks.org

This email sent to [[email protected]]