Hummingbird in Salina KS in January 2000

On Thursday, Jan 13, 2000, Doug Rudick reported on the KSBIRD-L listserve that a hummingbird was visiting a feeder in Salina KS. On Friday he was able to convince a local photographer (John Shoultys) to obtain some photos of this bird. These are included below.

On Saturday Jan. 15, I got a few more pictures (below), and wrote up a description.  Based on this description and subsequent listserve discussion, the current opinion is that this bird is an adult female Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna). The bird was last seen on Tuesday, Jan. 25, and probably did not survive an extended cold spell and snowy weather which hit the area in the last week of January.

Click here to look at a couple of photos of a first-year male Anna's hummingbird that appeared in Tulsa OK in December 1999.

Other useful hummingbird ID links are Paul Conover's site and the USFWS Bird Identification site at Patuxent.


Photos by John Shoultys, Jan 14, 2000.


scans from slides taken by D.A. Rintoul, Jan 15, 2000. It was a bright sunny day, and the feeder was half-in and half-out of the sun, making flash exposures somewhat problematic, as you can see for yourselves. But I think that the slides help to clinch the identification, female Anna's hummingbird, (Calypte anna), which, if accepted by the Kansas Bird Records Committee, will be the fifth record for the state.

Although this is not the best portrait of a hummingbird I have ever seen, it is useful in IDing this bird. The spot of color on the throat is consistent with an ID of Anna's hummingbird, and the tail pattern is consistent with an ID of a female Anna's hummingbird. The relatively large tail is also consistent with an ID of Anna's hummingbird.

The pinkish color on the underside of this bird is an artifact of light reflecting from the red hummingbird feeder below, so ignore that. Look instead at the fine streaking on the throat and the less-than-pure-white sides and breast, which helps distinguish this species from the Archilochus species such as ruby-throated and black-chinned.

Note (again) the grayish-white underparts, the fine streaking in the upper throat, and the dark triangle in front of the eye, which is typical for Anna's hummingbird (male and female, see the black-and-white portrait at the top of this page).


 

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updated 2/2/2000 by D.A. Rintoul