Always liked hummingbirds

[gerhardt]

I am new to this. I have recently had an increased interest in these astonishing creatures. And even more recently have placed a feeder in my front yard which I can observe easily and very often. I have been observing for several hours today and have been seeing two birds on a regular basis even at this very moment. I wanted to identify them so I went to this site and others in an attempt to do so. This "ain't" easy for a novice! They appear to be male and female of the same variety. One is primarilly green on the back with the other more brownish green. The fronts are white to grey to the shoulders with a sharp break in color at the wing tops. The tail feather tips of one are distinctly white while in flight. Their crowns are dark from the top of the bill, just below the eye, to the rear of the heads. They have long and straight bills. The throats appear white to grey unless veiwed from the front (especially in flight) where darker colors seem to appear in moderation. Trying to identify by picture comparison I thought perhaps they are Black Chinned, Ruby Throated or even Calliope. After just a little more research I believe they may be Black Chinned due to the small white spot behind the eyes of both and the knife versus club shape of the outer flight wing on what I believe to be the female. Could they be a young pair of Black Chinned accounting for lack of distinct chin coloration? Please advise. Thanks for the opportunity.

[Steve Backes]

Identification between female or young Ruby-throateds and Black-chinneds can only be done with confidence on a bird in the hand (or with photographs showing sharp images of specific feathers). In general, the black-chinned is duller overall (especially on the head) and the bill is bulkier and slightly down curved, but extremes of each species may overlap. The green above may vary in color due to the lighting and the "white" below can vary on both species from white to yellow to gray. The best distinguishing feature between the two is the outer wing feather. The Black-chinned has a broad blunt tip as opposed to a feather that tapers to a narrow point on the Ruby-throated.

Ruby-throateds breed throughout Florida and will migrate through in good numbers through October. Black-chinneds are not expected until late October or November.