Today we have part 2 of Paul Handford’s hummingbird photos (part 1 is here). Paul’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
The Rufous hummer, Selasphorus rufus, was a common frequenter of our yard, boldly visiting the feeders. It has the distinction of being the northernmost breeding species of any member of the family (61°N, in southern Alaska). Given that they winter on the Gulf Coast and the southern Pacific slopes of Mexico, this means that, in terms of body-length, at least some Rufous hummers make the longest of all avian migrations!
The females closely resemble those of the congeneric Calliope hummer, differing in having longer tails and rufous, rather than buff flanks:
The males are mainly strongly rufous, and with a brilliant ‘metallic’ scarlet throat. Again, this is a colour produced by interference produced by the structural characteristics of the feathers rather than by pigment. As such, the brilliance shows when it is viewed directly; from the side, it appears dark, even black:
Beautiful! Thank you on this frigid southeastern Virginia morning…19F. Recalling our backyard hummingbirds of summer.
Great pix! Paul must have a really small camera to be able to take pictures of these little birds.
Nice photos!