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Hummingbird Quiz (1 Viewer)

Marian Alvarez said:
Here I'm posting my other pic of my mystery hummer, and I think it helps. Pay attention to the tail!

I will be back later to see it you have an answer or any questions. Good luck!!!

Hello! :scribe:

Marian, the only Costa Rican hummer I was able to find with this kind of beak was the Violet sabrewing.. Is it a Violet Sabrewing immature?

Cheers,
Luiz
 
Hi, everybody!

I think we had spent too much time with this little devil, so I'm going to give the answer.

Luiz, you are right, it is again a Violet Sabrewing. After some research I ruled out the Green Hermit becuase it has not the white eye spot of my Hummer, it has a long pointed tail with white tip (that mine has not) and it is a much slimmer Hummer than mine, which looks chunckier. On the contrary, in my second pic the white tail outfeathers of a Sabrewing are visible, and so is a slight violet gorget present in females or inmatures Violet Sabrewing. But this one is so dark that I think it might be a young male moulting into adult.

If you don't agree or have any question please tell me.

And now another set of pictures. Sorry for number 1 and 2, the birds are small in the pictures, but they have such striking pattern that I don't think you will have problems to guess them. I have a frontal view of the second one, but I want you to try to guess it only with the rear view.

Good luck with this new set! Looking forward to hearing your answers! ;)
 

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Marian: Number 3 is the female White throated Mountain Gem. We've taken lots of pictures of them at Savagre. Beautiful little gems!

I'll punt on the others.

Linda
 
Arrgh! I knew it looked like a Violet Sabrewing - except for the colors and kept talking myself out of it since we'd already had one. That will teach me to use my instinct a little more.
Don't know #1 yet, but know I have seen it in all my searches.
#2 Green Thorntail, female I think, Discosura conversii
#3 Purple -throated Mountain Gem Lampornis castaneoventis cololaema
 
Hello, Marian, Lisa and other friends here! :hi:

The Quiz goes on!! As a good(?) student, I also have to bring my homework...
So, here it comes:

1) Crowned woodnymph ( Thalurania columbica ), male
2) I only know here it is a bird from the Lophornis gender, I cannot say each one.. maybe another photo of this one would help, but for me it is a Lophornis ( or Coquette ), undoubtelly.
3) Agree with Lisa, Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, Lampornis Calolaema, female.

See you!

Luiz
 
He, he! Nice to see you are doing your homework!!!

Helen, nice to see you have decided to have a try here! About your mystery Hummer, I haven't still made my mind up; I'm really confused. Later I will post my conclusions in your thread...


Arrgh! I knew it looked like a Violet Sabrewing - except for the colors and kept talking myself out of it since we'd already had one. That will teach me to use my instinct a little more.

Ha, ha!!! Poor Lisa! Don’t rule out species because I’ve already post them. If males and females are different I will post them as if they were new. I’ve posted male and female Green-crowned Brilliant for example,… And there are more to come.

For the moment, as the three of you have given an answer to the third pic and you agree, I'm saying that it is the female Purple-throated Mountain-Gem. Bravo! Helen, you said White-throated Mountain-Gem, but both birds are the same species (but different subspecies); in fact, both females are almost impossible to distinguish. I know it is the Purple-throated because of the area (La Paz Waterfalls Gardens, Northern part of the country) and there were males around. So, from a practical point of view, you’ve recognized the bird!

As for the second bird, I’m attaching the frontal view, for you to verify the ID or change your mind… ;) Am I not terrible, confusing you like this??? ;)

I will wait a bit more just in case somebody else can say something about the first one. If it was necessary, I can post another view, although the bird is still small. It’s a pity I couldn’t get closer to that wonder of nature! But with my modest equipment and the horrible lighting we had most of the holidays, these pictures show the best I could do.

Bye for now!
 

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Here I am again, Marian.
#1 Violet-crowned Woodnymph Thalurania colombica
#2 Need to retract my Green Thorntail, obviously the tail is not long enough, how did I not see that.
Keeping #3 as is.
 
Well, to finish this homework is proving to be a little difficult for me. I keep on saying that the second bird is a Lophornis (coquette ), but each one? I've only seen photos of the Black-crestd and of the White-crested adult male coquettes, and this one does not seem to be an adult male. I've seen also a female of the black-crested, but it does not look like the photo Marian is showing to us.. So, by elimination, I'll say it is a female of the White-crested coquette (but I'm not sure of it, for there can be another Lophornis species in Costa Rica, or it can be a juvenile, instead of a female). As I said before, the only real certainty I have is that it is a Lophornis.. I'm wondering which grade our teacher will give for an answer of this kind..

Luiz :brains:
 
Hi, Everybody! :hi:

Sorry, I was out of the Forum for many hours due to unexpected social duties, and I couldn't keep an eye on your answers until now.


I'm wondering which grade our teacher will give for an answer of this kind..

Ha, ha!!! Luiz, don't worry for the grade, you are doing it very well!

You both, Lisa and Luiz, got right the first one, Violet-crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica). Isn't it an impressive creature??? Even in that terrible pic looks like a precious jewel!

As for number 2... he, he... You are close to the solution of the problem. I will say that it isn't an adult male, I think it is just a female, looks exactly like one. The white band in the back says it a Coquette of some kind. Luiz, you are right at this point but it is extensively green and Costa Rican Coquettes of genus Lophornis have not those colours... but there are other genus...


Need to retract my Green Thorntail, obviously the tail is not long enough

Lisa, you changed your mind because of the short tail... but female Coquettes of any kind look extremely different to the males. Even male and female Green Thorntails (which is a Coquette in fact) look like different birds.

If you don't have the Costa Rica ID field guide you can be a bit confused but I assure you this bird can't be confused with anything else. If you find something resembling this one, that it is!

Good luck after the clues! Meanwhile, I will think about the next set of pictures…
 
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Hi Marian, I really thought that all goquettes were from the gender Lophornis...Thanks, that's a great information you gave me. But now, where to search for the answer? I have no answer for you by now..
 
I have no answer right now either. I don't have a field guide so have been doing all research via the net (not the best of situations). Will hunt more and come back.
 
Without a field guide things are more difficult, I admit it. But if you "google" in "images" the "keywords" we have already mentioned for this bird you will find it easily. I've tried myself and that striking lady is there!

Do you know the Mangoverde Bird Gallery? Luiz, you know it, and I think most of my Hummingbirds are here:

http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/index.html

If you go to the Hummingbirds section down in the left column, there you have plenty of Hummer photographs. I study them there, for example. That can help you a lot for this and other pictures to come.

After all this trouble I don't think you will forget this lady-Hummingbird! ;)
 
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All right! I am already in love with that site! Why didn't that page come up in all of my other Google searches??? After putting in Green thorntail and searching I came up with a picture that looks just like my first guess of this one. So I am back to square one.
#2 Green Thorntail, female, Discosura conversii
The problem is that it is the species that Luiz is talking about or is it? So maybe I am still incorrect.
 
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Marian, thanks for remembering us about the mangoverde... I had forgotten to look there. Now, I will say the mistery lady is Discosura conversii, or green thorntail.

(I would like to say two things to you,Marian, one is that I live about 45 minutes from Itatiaia National Park, the other is that Kim, from neotropicalbutterflies.com, is beginning a forum there, very interesting, with ID, comments, etc.)
 
Correct!!!

That female Green Thorntail is an odd-looking but cute little bird, I just love it! She has not long tail but I think she is prettier than the male.

I'm glad you now have the reference of Mangoverde, for me that site is very useful. And thanks Luiz for all your information!

Here is a new set of pictures, but things are getting tougher from now. I'm running out of pictures, so now at the end you will have birds not so easy and some less decent shots. We will see how you manage...

A last thing. I have a pic with the bird in the nest but she had no disturbance at all, she was digiscoped and the pic was taken in Rancho Naturalista, a private place where only bird- and nature- lovers go in. Our guide pointed us the nest and invited us to digiscope the bird. Do you think I can post that pic here? In these conditions I don't think there is any problem, but if there is, I won't do it.

Good guess!!!
 

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Hello, Marian and friends!

Well, it's becoming more diffficult, at least for me, but let's try:
1) Green-crowned Brilliant( Heliodoxa Jacula ), female.
2)Volcano Hummingbird (Selasphorus flanmula ), female
3) Rufous-tailed HB ( Amazilia tzacal), male

I'm not optimistic this time...
Cheers!

Luiz
 
Marian: LOL! After my CR Hummer, I'd have to say #3 is the rufous tailed hummingbird.

I also agree that #2 must be the Volcano Hummingbird.

Linda
 
Marian, can't figure out #1 yet, I can't seem to find something with that ear patch, maybe I'm looking to hard.
Think # 2 is a Volcano Hummingbird - Selasphorus flammula
#3 Rufous-tailed - Amazilia tzacatl
My partner has company in town this next week, will be checking in but don't know how much time I'll have for research.
 
Hi, everyone! :hi:

Sorry, I've been very busy these last few days, both at work and attending to family duties and I couldn't keep an eye on this thread as I wished.

After seeing your answers I will say that number 2 was the Volcano Hummingbird. Very good! :clap: That was not easy in my opinion.

As for number 3, the three answers say a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird but... it isn't. Sorry! It is true the tail seems a bit reddish but Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is not the only one to have that sort of reddish or coppery colour on the tail. A clue: pay attention to the bill shape and specially the colouring in the throat and breast (the bit seen!). I like a lot this pic, although the wings conceal some diagnostic features. That makes ID more difficult but the Quizzes become difficult at the end! ;)

As for number 1, it is not so difficult, even if it is a "she". Again, I will give you some clues: this is a highland Hummer in Costa Rica (Linda, that is the reason it is found in Savegre). Pay attention to the bill shape, straight and quite long.

Don't rush with the answers, we are not in a hurry. I will be again quite busy next week, so you can take your time for your research.

Happy guessing!
 
Marian: The only hummer that I could think of for #1 is a female volcano hummer. She has a tiny eye patch.

I'm still searching for #3. It's a beautiful picture, but I'm trying to figure out what the hidden ID features are. I was a bit hasty on the rufous-tailed after our discussion about the bill color in the other thread.

Linda

www.chesapeakeimages.com
 
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