Sweet Water Wetlands Tucson, AZ- Hummingbird (1 Viewer)

Seemed larger than BCHU.

I struggle with some hummingbirds but will venture a guess at a female Anna's Hummingbird. I put this out here knowing it may be wrong in order for those more knowledgeable to point out what about this bird would eliminate it as a possibility and then I and maybe others can learn.

BruceH said:

I struggle with some hummingbirds but will venture a guess at a female Anna's Hummingbird. I put this out here knowing it may be wrong in order for those more knowledgeable to point out what about this bird would eliminate it as a possibility and then I and maybe others can learn.

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I don’t know what it is, but I do not think it is Anna’s. The primary projection is long, (Anna’s usually does not reach the tail as far as I know). I think it is a male and I don’t think Anna’s males have much/any white on the tail. The gorget looks downright weird and OP and I were discussing that it appears that the head might be wet and coated in some type of staining. I think there is something weird about this bird, whether it’s a rarity that I am unfamiliar with or it’s just a strange variation of one of the more common species I don’t know.

I’m following this post in hopes that someone with more knowledge chimes in.

Thanks for the thoughts. I was stumped in the field. There were 4 of us who saw the bird and we all thought it was a larger hummingbird. Somewhere between a Blue-throated and say a Black-chinned. In the field we could never make out any color on the gorget, it always seemed dark. The same dark seems to be on the top of the head. In the two replicate photos I turned up the saturation on one, and it seems like a "Blue-throated" blue comes through. I don't know how reliable that is but its something. After seeing all the photos we were wondering if this bird is not a Hybrid of something? Anyway thanks for the input! Oh and this bird was seen just a few days ago at the Wetlands in Tucson.