Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2020

Sunny, cool. Approx. 45 degrees F. Light wind from NW.

Nikon Monarch 5 8x40 roof prism binoculars.

I have observed hundreds of Rufous Hummingbirds and Allen's Hummingbirds (the most similar species), as well as Broad-tailed and Calliope Hummingbirds, in the western U.S. including coastal California where I lived for five years, the Sierra, Cascades, and Rocky mountain ranges, and SE Arizona.

Shrubby, weedy border between alfalfa field and pond, interspersed with small trees and some dead snags. Other bird species observed included Song Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Goldfinch, House Wren, Eastern Phoebe.

No feeding observed. Direct and purposeful flight to a shrub where it landed on a bare twig, and for 10-15 seconds looked around hyperactively with its bill angled upward at ~45 degrees before it flew off. No interactions with other birds or insects observed. Bird may have reacted to me as it flew off in a direction that was directly away from me and at right angles to its pervious path.

None observed.

I was birding the ponds, roadside, and field edges just above the parking area for the DCWMA Farrell Access. While following a flock of sparrows in the shrubby between the two ponds and next to the alfalfa field, a hummingbird suddenly flew into my field of vision from my right. I had my binoculars up and was able to get right on the bird. I could see rufous color in the tail as it passed me, and I had an excellent view of the tail as it approached and landed on a bare twig about 25 ft. in front of me. I knew that it was likely to be a Selasphorus hummingbird. The bird was facing me from where it perched, so I was able to get clean looks at the throat, breast, belly, and undertail coverts regions.

The bird was approximately the same size and shape as a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. It seemed more compact and definitely smaller-tailed than Broad-tailed Hummingbird, which I have seen in direct comparison with Rufous on many occasions in the mountain west. On the other hand it was clearly larger overall, larger-tailed, and longer-billed than a Calliope Hummingbird, another species that I have compared in the mountain west.

Crown and nape were bright iridescent green, down to the eye and fading onto the cheek. The throat was clean white without any orange or red iridescent feathers.

The feet could not be seen. The bill was medium length, thin, straight, and appeared all dark in color. Similar in length the Ruby-throated bill.

The upper back was bright iridescent green, continuous with the nape and crown.

The lower back and rump, seen briefly in flight, appeared to be bright iridescent green, continuous with the upper back.

Little detail since in flight they were a blur of motion and while perched the bird was facing me and I could see little of the wing surface. While perched, the tips of the wings appeared to fall just short of the end of the tail.

The upper breast was clean white, but below a lovely rufous wash appeared and continued onto the belly, flanks, and undertail coverts.

The tail showed bright rufous at the base, and bold white tips on the outer tail feathers. My impression was that there was a lot of white in the tail. As I have argued above, the tail seemed intermediate in size between what I would expect in Broad-tailed or Calliope Hummingbirds, respectively, but consistent with what I would expect in a Rufous.

The field marks noted above clearly identify this as a female or immature Selasphorus hummingbird. As I have pointed out, Broad-tailed and Calliope Hummingbirds can be ruled out based on overall size and shape considerations, as well as tail size. The real question is could this definitively be called a Rufous and not a Rufous/Allen's? Some (e.g. Ken Kaufman) have argued that females and immatures of Rufous and Allen's cannot be reliably distinguished in the field. So the safe bet would be to call it a Rufous/Allen's and leave it at that. However, two things push me towards calling it a Rufous. The first is range of vagrancy. Rufous is a rare but somewhat regular vagrant to the eastern U.S. Allen's is rarer, perhaps much rarer. Kaufman has argued that many male birds identified as vagrant Allen's may have been misidentified Rufous instead, since there is a green-backed form of Rufous. Second, the relatively extensive amount of white in the tail is consistent with female/immature Rufous. In my field experience with both Rufous and Allen's, I have noted that the wider outer tail feathers of female/immature Rufous make the tail flashier white compared to female/immature Allen's.

The bird was either a female, an immature, or both, based on plumage.