Posted by Gary Potter (198.81.20.171) on February 06, 2003 at 00:38:40:
Since nobody else seems to want to stick out their neck on this one, I jump in first! First of all I think that the cinnamon flanks and white belly point toward Selasphorus species or Calliope. The elongated tail and relatively "large" look eliminate Calliope. and the lack of obvious rufous on any of the upper parts seem to eliminate Rufous/Allen's. This leaves Broad-tailed. The white eye ring seems to support the identification of Broad-tailed also. But the photo on the right seems to show a wing with very narrow inner primaries, which are typical of Archilochus species. The wings on both photos are somewhat out of focus, and the left photo is too dark in this area to show any detail at all. I am also having trouble assessing the tail in these perched birds, but they do appear to have a lot of white underneath, indicating female. Also this late in the year I would expect immature males to start showing some colored gorget feathers. Therefore, I conclude that this is a female which most closely resembles Broad-tailed, but the narrow inner primaries seem to indicate that it may be a hybrid or a back cross to a hybrid with a Black-chinned.