Photos Taken December 22nd and 23rd, 2009

Photo Study Of An Allen's Hummingbird In Leola, PA December 22-28, 2009

An adult female Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) has been coming in to a feeder in Leola, PA. This is the first record of this species in Pennsylvania.

The Allen's Hummingbird is a small bird, with mature adults reaching only 3 to 3½ inches in length. The male Allen's has a green back and forehead, with rust-colored rufous flanks, rump, and tail. The male's throat is also an iridescent orange-red. The female and immature Allen's Hummingbirds are similarly colored. The adult female Selasphorus like this one usually has an iridescent gorget patch, not as big as a male's, but still iridescent, and not just dark speckles on their throat. Females are mostly green, featuring rufous colors on their sides as well as on the tail, which also has white tips. The female and immature Allen's Hummingbirds are so similar to the female Rufous Hummingbird that the two are almost indistinguishable in the field. Both species' breeding seasons and ranges are common factors used to differentiate between the two species in a particular geographical area.

The Allen's Hummingbird is common only in the brushy woods, gardens, and meadows of coastal California from Santa Barbara north, and a minuscule portion of lower Oregon. The nominate race of Allen's Hummingbird, S.s. sasin is migratory, and winters along the Pacific coast of central Mexico. A second race S.s. sedentarius is a permanent resident on the Channel Islands off southern California. This population colonized the Palos Verdes Peninsula of Los Angeles County in the 1960s and has since spread over much of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. (From Wikpedia)

The family that discovered the bird has been very caring and they and their neighbors have been very generous allowing birders to come unto their property to see this rare and beautiful visitor.

Scott Weidensaul of Schuylkill Haven, PA, caught and banded the bird last week and further carefully measured it to positively confirm its identity. The Allen's looks so much like the Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) that it is virtually impossible to differentiate them visually or through a pair of binoculars. Here is a photo for comparative purposes of the Allen's Hummingbird side by side with the Rufous that I photographed in Merion, PA a couple of years ago.

Allen's Hummingbird Rufous Hummingbird

Scott also posted the following thread earlier today in response to some posted concerns about the feeder being frozen. It truly attests to the amazing hardiness of this little bird:

" Birders and ornithologists have a 'very' long history of badly underestimating the winter survival abilities of Selasphorus hummingbirds. They are very tough, able to withstand even sub-zero nighttime temps for at least a few days, and the kind of weather we're having now is no real challenge to them. When I banded the bird she had a moderate fat load, which given her frequent feeding the past day or day is probably rising rapidly. Even so, with what she already had I imagine a 150- to 200-mile nonstop flight would pose no challenge, and if she's bulked up further (as photos from yesterday suggest - very puffed flank feathers) she could make a 600-mile nonstop flight in about 24 hours of flying. Even in winter, Selasphorus get about half their diet from arthropods like winter-active midges - she was hawking bugs the day I banded her, and birders have since seen her doing the same thing. A frozen feeder is not a death sentence by any means for this bird. If that food supply did vanish, she would head south. "

Scott's point above was further demonstrated yesterday when I was able to photograph the Hummer both drinking sugar water actively at the feeder as well as dining on midges in the evergreens:

Drinking From The Feeder Eating Midges