
Image via Flickr
Is This An Allen’s Hummingbird or a Rufous Hummingbird?
We found two articles about the Allen’s Hummingbird. The first one indicates a toss-up between the Allen’s and the Rufous Hummingbird. The second article has a terrific image of an Allen’s captured in hight winds…
Michigan Hummingbird Guy: 2011 Hummingbird Banding – Post …
Most years, the first report I get of a Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird is in November though many of these birds are actually on-site much earlier in the fall season, making the “first observed” date somewhat of a guess. This bird …Allen’s Hummingbird
First Allen’s Hummingbird that I have seen, much less photographed. Between the wind moving the bird’s branch back and forth, and pushing my lens…
Do any of our viewers have trouble distinguishing the Allen’s Hummingbird from the Rufous?
Sports section features the Rufous Hummingbird…

Adult Male Rufous-Hummingbird (copyright - Joe Burgess - www.wikipedia.edu)
I was doing a bit of research on the little Rufous Hummingbird, and I came across the following item in the Yakima Herald-Republic Outdoor Sports Section.
On the first Tuesday of each month, they feature the Wildlife Moment, featuring native wildlife, with the cooperation of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.
Rufous hummingbird not afraid to ruffle feathers
July 4, 2011 in YH-R Outdoors
YAKIMA, Wash. — The rufous hummingbird has a definite behavioral problem. In the parlance of the playground, it clearly needs “a time-out” because, quite simply, it does not play well with others.
When this feisty bird finds an attractive sugar water feeder or clump of flowers, it becomes intensely territorial, chasing off any other hummingbird that dares to approach. It bullies other hummers even if there seems to be plenty of feeders or flowers to go around.
From May through the end of June, the black-chinned hummingbird is the species that nests and breeds at lower elevations in the Yakima Valley and Cascade foothills. The black-chin is a relatively placid hummer and for these two months, life is relatively peaceful. When the first southbound male rufous hummingbirds arrive at the end of June, though, hummer tranquility is replaced by instant warfare. Continue reading


