IBRC Record #: 71-B-06

ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD
Mtn Home, Elmore County
30 November 2006

On 30 November 2006 Claudus Barnes and Doyle Wilson encountered a hummingbird beneath the Wilson's feeder in Mtn Home. The bird was easily captured in hand and appeared weak. Barnes photographed the bird in Wilson's hand and submitted the photos to me immediately, knowing my interest in late season hummingbirds. In fact, I had banded an Anna's Hummingbird at the Wilson's home in fall of 2004. The photos clearly show a female-type Calypte Hummingbird.

The above photo shows many of the important identifying features for Anna's Hummingbird, but the photo below, being closer, is better...

The photo above shows some of the key feature for Anna's Hummingbird. Note the fairly wide inner primaries, which are roughly as wide as the outer (longer) primaries -- the first photo shows this nicely. This is a feature of Calypte Hummingbirds (Costa's and Anna's). This bird appears too green-headed and too bulky overall to be a Costa's. The bill appears long and robust, too (especially in the first photo), further supporting Anna's.

At this time of year iI would expect a young male Anna's to show some additional magenta / reddish gorget feathers, perhaps on the sides of the neck or even on the crown. The utter lack of any of this suggests that this is a female. A close-up of the white outer tail feathers would give us a definitive answer, but as they are hidden we are reduced to "best guesses" regarding sex.

Age is also difficult to tell. Some sources (Peter Pyle's banding guide) suggest that females can't be properly aged this late in the fall, given that they molt into adult plumage earlier in the fall. This wing feathers on this bird appear to be somewhat dingy -- the inner primaries don't appear fresh and black to me. However, this could be due to lighting artifacts. I similarly don't see any gaps in the wing (showing active molt), so I would assume that these feathers are in fact new adult feathers. The presence of a potential single convex-tipped secondary (bottom photo -- the lightest tipped secondary) suggests that this may be a Hatch Year bird. The secondaries are the last wing feathers to mold, and if the photo accurately shows the shape of this feather, then we can assume this hatch-year feather hasn't molted yet, allowing us to age it as Hatch Year. Notice how the secondary immediately under it is squared (an adult feather feature in Anna's Hummingbird). This feature is also illustrated on the close-up photo of the Anna's Hummingbird banded at the Wilson's house in 2004. However, I can't be entirely confident based the photos supplied that they accurately illustrate the secondary shape, color, and age, leaving me with hesitation about assigning this bird a distinct age.

This is approximately the 42nd Anna's Hummingbird recorded in Idaho -- an at least the fifth from this fall in the state, where they are becoming expected annual visitors.

-- Report prepared by: Stacy Jon Peterson; Eagle River, Alaska; SJPeterson@aol.com
30 November 2006