FIRST IDAHO STATE RECORD
(Pending Acceptance by Idaho Bird Records Committee)

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD -- Archilochus colubris

14-15 September 2004, Mtn Home AFB, Elmore County

On 14 September 2004 at 7:15 PM, Laura (my wife) captured a young Archilochus hummingbird for me as part of our ongoing hummingbird banding study at our house on Mtn Home AFB in Elmore County, Idaho. Upon retrieving the bird from the bag I was struck by the fairly uniform green color on the crown, nape, and back. The bird also felt "sleeker" in the hand than the hundreds of hatch year (immature; HY) Black-chinneds that I've been catching for the past couple months. Upon closer inspection, I began to notice characteristics consistent with Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Idaho lacked an accepted record for this species prior to this, so while I felt pretty good about the identification of this bird I recognized the need for extreme caution and solicited confirmation by humming researchers more familiar with the species. By 15 September, nine hummingbird banders and two biologists / ornithologists reviewed the 9/14/04 photos on this page and have unanimously agreed with my initial identification. See comments below where permission was granted to reproduce them.

UPDATE: The bird was also observed briefly at approximately 9:05 AM on 15 September by Harry Krueger as it came to a feeder in our backyard. It has not been observed since. Indeed, while three hummingbirds were present on 14 September, they had all vanished by mid morning on 15 September and no other hummers were observed until the evening of 17 September.

DETAILS: The culmen had about 70% corrugations, indicating an immature bird. There was also a fair amount of tan edging to the feathers on the crown and sides of the neck, but this feature was not nearly as distinctive as I normally see in HY Black-chinneds.

MEASUREMENTS in hand: Exposed culmen: 17.41 mm. Wing cord: 44.31 mm. Tail length (thin plastic ruler under r1): 27 mm. Mass: 4.0 grams. Fat score: 2 on scale of 0-4.

For a female Archilochus hummingbird, the culmen (17.41 mm) provides support for Ruby-throated (it's within the range for that species; 17.9 is the smallest for female Black-chinned according to Pyle).

This was clearly an Archilochus hummingbird based on the measurements, notching at the tips of the inner primaries, and the width of the inner primaries being approximately equal to the outer primaries (NOTE: 11/28/06 -- this description was written incorrectly. Since voting is currently occurring on this record I will leave it as written, but add this addendum. It should read, "inner primaries being narrower than"). It was determined to be a female based on clean throat pattern, shape of outer vane on primary #6, shape of outer retrix (r5), and amount of white on the tip of r3. These features and additional ones that pointed to Ruby-throated are further discussed in the figure headings below.

PHOTOS (all © 2004 Stacy Jon Peterson; taken with Nikon Coolpix 4500, macro setting; contrast enhanced / sharpened, etc., on MS Picture It! Photo version 7.0)

Photos of HY Black-chinneds are included here for comparison. While feather color is somewhat useful for species identification (compare Figs. 1 & 2), it is important to consider that these photos were taken under different lighting conditions. To my eye, the Ruby-throated appeared a richer, more vibrant green on the dorsal surface. That comes across fairly well in Figure 1.

HY-Female RUBY-THROATED Mtn Home AFB, Elmore County, ID, 9/14/04	HY-Male BLACK-CHINNED Mtn Home, Elmore County, ID, 9/17/04	HY-Female BLACK-CHINNED Mtn Home AFB, Elmore County, ID, 9/19/04
Figure 1. Note the green crown, nape, and upper back, with the tan edging to the feathers behind the eye and on the nape and forecrown. Pyle states that any HY/SY or female Archilochus with a green forehead should be Ruby-throated. This may hold true for adult females (Black-chinneds have a noticeably grayish forecrown), but it's a stretch to say that immature Black-chinneds lack green there. The actual shade of green is different, but it's still present and can be troubling depending on light and viewing angle (see next 5 photos).	Figure 2. This is the typical coloration of immature Black-chinneds in Idaho whenever they're present. Note the extensive scaling / tan edges to the feathers on the crown and nap, giving the bird a dirty look, especially at a distance. This is apparently quite unlike that of immature Ruby-throats, although I have seen pictures of immature Rubies that look virtually identical in the crown -- perhaps these are early season birds and the tan edging wears off more rapidly in the moister eastern environment as the season progresses?	Figure 3. It is easy to note again the extensive edging to the feathers on the nape and lower back of immature Black-chinneds late into the season. In Idaho this feature is usually prominent on immature Black-chinneds during their entire duration (all hummers are practically gone from my region by mid-late September). Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but they're rare.
Figure 4. The throat is fairly clean white with very limited dark centers to a few of the lower throat feathers. There were absolutely no colored feathers (gorgets) on the throat (based on the similarity of p6 shape to that exhibited by immature male Black-chinneds [Figs. 10 & 11], at first I thought it may be a pale-throated male).	Figure 5. The throat on this bird is superficially similar to our Ruby-throated (Fig. 4). While this bird lacks the green feathers outlining the lower quadrant of the throat, I banded another immature male today which had green feathers that looked virtually identical to Figure 4. Some have it, some don't...	Figure 6. The dark specks on the throat of this individual are very similar to those of the young male at left. Some female's throats are more plain than this, and some are very darkly stipled. See the HY-F Black-chinned pages for examples. This illustrates the need to use multiple characteristics in assigning sex to immature hummers.
Figure 7. The outer rectrices showed nice rounded tips, suggesting female. The amount of white on the third rectix (r3; right most in this photo) is almost borderline for female / male (male has relatively less) at least for Black-chinned, but the rounded and wide r5 (outermost) suggests female.	Figure 8. This is a typical set of outer retrices for immature male Black-chinneds. Note the greatly reduced white on r3 and the "nippled" r5. If all immature males were this way, things would be really easy, but sometimes the amount of white on r3 approaches that of a female, and r5 may not be as distinctly pointed.	Figure 9. This is a typical set of outer retrices for immature female. Note the extensive white and the broad rounded tip to r5, and the relatively more extensive white tip to r3 than in males. Sometimes there's more white on r2, sometimes there's none. But the presence strongly indicates female.
Figure 10. Note the outermost primary (p10) is distinctly narrower than the adjacent one (p9; see also Fig. 13). P10 is also less club-shaped than Black-chinned and the outer vane doesn't widen near the tip nearly as much in Ruby-throated as it does in Black-chinned (Fig. 11, insert). The 6th primary (p6) shows a relatively wide outer vane all the way to the tip, consistent with female Ruby-throated. In males this outer vane almost disappears into the shaft at the tip. Compare with immature male Blach-chinned.	Figure 11. The most striking difference between Black-chinned and Ruby-throated is the outer vane on p10. Note how it gets wider near the tip in Black-chinned (insert). In this species, p10 and p9 are also approximately the same width and are both fairly club-shaped. The width and pointed appearance of p6 (count feather shafts backwards; p10 is outermost) is consistent with immature male Black-chinned, although the differences between males and females in this species are much less pronounced than in Ruby-throateds.	Figure 12. This illustrates the difficulty in using p6 alone as the indicator of sex in Black-chinneds, something that is much more easily done in Ruby-throated. On this bird, the outer vane of p6 is noticeably wider and the tip of distinctly rounded compared to that of the immature male (Fig. 11), but it is not always so obvious (See HY-F Black-chinned page). Sometimes p6 isn't very useful for sexing HY Black-chinneds. Note how the tip of p6 appears slightly more rounded when the wing is at rest (Fig. 15).
	Similar photos not available
Figure 13. Though not very well focused, this photo also shows the relative width of p10 to p9 (narrow p10 is mostly behind wide p9). Notching of the tip of p5 is also shown well here.	Figure 14.	Figure 15. Compare the width of p10 and p9 here with Fig. 13. Note also the rounded tip and relatively wide outer vane on p6 (for sexing). Remember that p6 can be problematic.
	Similar photos not available	Similar photos not available
Figure 16. Here is a shot of the undertail coverts. It's somewhat washed out by the flash and I'm not sure this is very conclusive, but it does show the width and amount of white on the tips of the outer retrices, suggesting female. Is there any way that the relative length of r4 and r3 as shown here (r4 at least equal in length to r3) support Ruby-throat? In Figure 7, r4 seems longer than r3. This seems to be a feature mentioned by Howell in his hummer photographic field guide, but it doesn't appear to hold true (compare other tail photos).	Figure 17.	Figure 18.
	Similar photos not available	Similar photos not available
Figure 19. This release photo of the banded and white-marked (crown) hummingbird in Laura's hand shows a relatively long tail and a fairly pointed p10.	Figure 20.	Figure 21.

Comments From Members of the Hummingbird Research Community (used by permission)

• Your hummer is a Ruby-throated. Congratulations!
  -- Fred Bassett, humbander and certified trainer, Montgomery, AL
  
• I'll add my voice for definite Ruby-throated, and congratulations! ...The crown color is really green too, as is the back. Again, the few Black-chins I've examined had very dull, almost brownish-olive crowns, and the green on the back was different, almost a velvet-green rather than the emerald-green of a Ruby-throat. I'm less comfortable with the question of the relationship between r3 and r4 as an aid to distinguishing the two species, not because I question its value, but because I really don't have a good grasp of the situation myself. I'd expect the rects of even HY-F Black-chins to be somewhat more pointy though.
  -- Allen Chartier, humbander, Inkster, MI
  
• I vote, with excitement for you, in favor of immature female Archilochus colubris [Ruby-throated Hummingbird] ... Your photos were good and diagnostic; there was no question about your original opinion. I did not take time to write in detail as did [others], but I would have said essentially the same things.
  -- Bill Hilton Jr., humbander, York, SC
  
• I absolutely concur with you that this is an immature female Ruby-throated hummingbird. I just banded 4 others that look exactly like your bird an hour ago. The primaries conclusively eliminate Black-chinned. And you are correct that P6 is shaped correctly for a female Ruby-throated. Additionally, your measurements of culmen and wing chord are about at the average for a HY female Ruby-throated. Weight is also about average to light. I'm seeing ranges of 3.9 to 4.5 g this week on HY females (it was a bit less last week, so birds are bulking up).
  -- Troy Gordon, humbander, Harrisburg, MO
  
• Having banded a large number of RTHU's, I fully agree with your identification. Great job documenting the identification!
  -- Craig Zalk, humbander, Houston, TX
  
• Hooray and Congratulations on the first record ID Ruby-throat! After looking at our key, it does look like a HY female RTHU to us. The P6 is definitely not BCHU.
  -- Steve & Debbie Bourius, humbanders and certified trainers, Palisade, CO
  
• The evidence overwhelmingly points to RTHU. Excellent job of documenting this exciting little bird!
  -- Susan Campbell, humbander, Whispering Pines, NC
  
• Although I haven't banded Black-chinned hummers, this certainly looks like the RTHUs I get all year. The details of the primaries and the coloring of the body feathers looks RTHU to me.
  -- Cathie Hutcheson, humbander, Makanda, IL
  
• I'll let the banders work on the grimy details, but from my overall gestalt perspective based on shade and intensity of dorsal coloration, face pattern, and bill length, it's a typical Ruby-throated! Wow!
  -- J. Van Remsen, curator of birds at LSU Museum of Natural Science, Baton Rouge, LA

If you have information that supports or conflicts with the identification of this bird, I'm very interested in how you reached your conclusions. Please write your thoughts to: SJPeterson@aol.com

PATTERN OF VAGRANCY

The following records suggest an increase in records in the past few years from the western USA, perhaps owing to better identification methods, banding projects, and excellent photography.

CANADA RARITY RECORDS

• BRITISH COLUMBIA
  1. 3-6 May 1977 -- near Campbell River, Vancouver Island, (American Birds, vol 31, 1977) - male
  2. late May 1979 -- near Cambell River, Vancouver Island, (American Birds vol 32(5), 1978) - male, likely same returning bird.
  3. 22 July 1989 -- Revelstoke, (American Birds vol 43(5), 1989)
• NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
  1. 20 August 1977 -- Brador, (American Birds vol 32(2), 1978) - 2nd provincial record

USA RARITY RECORDS

• ARIZONA
  • December 2004 - March 2005 -- Tucson, ___ County, (S. Williamson, pers. comm.) - female; photographs; banded by S. Williamson - 1st state record
• CALIFORNIA
  1. 15 May 1984 -- UC Davis's Sagehen Creek field station, Nevada County, (Don Roberson's website) - 1st state record. (NOTE that Roberson and Patten's online compilation incorrectly lists the year as 1975; It's listed as 1984 in American Birds vol 39(5), 1985).
  2. 21-22 August 1985 -- SE Farallon Island, San Francisco County, (CBRC 1998 Report) - PRBO capt. in hand; 2nd state record
  3. 7 September 1994 -- SE Farallon Island, San Francisco County, (20th Report of CBRC: 1994 Records; Western Birds, vol 28(3), 1997) - imm male; PRBO capt. in hand; 3rd state record
  4. 25 August 1998 -- SE Farallon Island, San Francisco County, (CBRC 1998 Report) - PRBO capt. in hand; imm female; 4th state record
  5. 25-29 September 2002 -- near Arcata, Humbolt County, (CBRC 2002 Report) - imm male; 5th state record, 4th in fall
• COLORADO
  1. 16 May 1989 -- Crook, ____ County, (American Birds vol 43(3), 1989) - first state record if approved by committee
  2. 31 August 1980 -- Beulah, Pueblo County, (American Birds vol 34, 1980) - first state record?
  3. 13-14 July 1991 -- Rye, ____ County, (American Birds vol 45(5), 1991) - dark photograph, red throat, perhaps not enough features for conclusive ID?, no official accepted records, yet
  4. 21 May 1998 -- Crow Valley Campground, Weld County, (Field Notes vol 52(3), 1998) - male, 2nd documented state record
  5. 30 April - 1 May 1999 -- Lamar, ____ County, (North American Birds vol 53(3), 1999) - ad male
• IDAHO
  1. 14-15 September 2004 -- Mtn Home AFB, Elmore County, (Trochilids.com) - imm female; banded by S. Peterson.
• KANSAS (west of yellow line on the map)
  1. 31 August 1997 -- Liberal, Seward County, (KBRC Report Summary '90-'01) - ad male
• MONTANA
  1. 3 August 1991 -- Fort Peck, ___ County, (American Birds vol 46(1), 1992)
  2. 25 August 1991 -- Malta, ___ County, (American Birds vol 46(1), 1992) - male
• NEW MEXICO
  1. 4 October 1974 -- Portales, Roosevelt County, (Hubbard, J.P. and A.L. Gennaro. 1985. Ruby-throated Hummingbird in New Mexico. American Birds 39:134) - specimen record deposited in Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC
  2. 26 September 1976 -- Portales, Roosevelt County, (Hubbard, J.P. and A.L. Gennaro. 1985. Ruby-throated Hummingbird in New Mexico. American Birds 39:134) - specimen record deposited in Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC
  3. 19 May 2000 -- Carlsbad, _____ County, (North American Birds vol 54(3), 2000) - ad male; only 3 previous credible records.
• TEXAS
  • 2 June 1985 -- Amarillo, Potter County, (American Birds vol 39(5), 1985) - male
• UTAH
  1. 29 August - 2 September 2005 -- Central, Washington County, (UtahBirds Hotline Photos) - imm male; Accepted, first state record
• WASHINGTON
  1. 28 June 1992 -- eastern slope of Cascade Mtns, Kittitas County, (American Birds vol 46(5), 1992) - male

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