Hummingbirds San Francisco and Las Vegas (1 Viewer)

Hopeless at identifying hummingbirds as they look so different depending on the light and different plumages through the years.

All photos taken mid October.

Looking at the maps in Sibley I assume the first 4 at San Fran must all be Anna's hummingbirds ?

The remaining were shot at Henderson Bird Preserve on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The site literature suggests that black-chinned, Anna's, Costa's, Rufous, and Calliope are found there at various times of year.

Any help with identification much appreciated.

1-5 attached.

6-9 attached

I think these are all Anna's Hummingbird, except probably #6, which is more likely a Costa's Hummingbird.

rkj said:

I think these are all Anna's Hummingbird, except probably #6, which is more likely a Costa's Hummingbird.

Click to expand...

Thanks KVA. They all look so different but I guess that's the problem with hummers !
Looking at google images (not very reliable I know) most Anna's look to have a more pink throat with Costa's having a more purple throat. Are my photos definitely Anna's rather than Costa's ?

Tony

ps All photos now sorted and on my flickr page. If you are interested enough to look and spot any mis-named, please let me know ! eh song sparrow ? Yellow warbler ? Williamson's sapsucker etc are all my best guesses !

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54189378@N02/albums/with/72157688383910481

Tony

hi tony, beautiful pics, found some mislabelled,

page 1:
0104 (grand canyon) looks like a common raven to me
0011 (death valley) looks like a female brown-headed cowbird
0015 is a female red-winged blackbird

page 2:
0062 is a young great blue heron
0025 are california gulls
0089, 0266, 0267, 0020 are all eared grebes
0063 is a ruby-crowned kinglet
0161 and 0164 is a song sparrow
0021 brandt's cormorants, pelagic cormorants and western gulls
0199, 0517 and 0520 are cassin's finches
0155 looks to be a cassin's vireo
0007 - not entirely sure on that one but could be a song sparrow
0073 and 0080 is a song sparrow
0010 i think is a savannah allright but i'm not sure

page 3:
0104 looks like a savannah sparrow to me
0094 is another say's phoebe
0083 & followings: note that western scrub jay has been split in 3 sp., yours is now california scrub jay
0113 - note that BOU has split 'hudsonian curlew' from whimbrel (not so AOU, IOC and clements) - or did BOU withdraw the split?
0241 and f. - female williamson's sapsucker allright
0216 and 0219 is an orange-crowned warbler

US birders, please check if i got anything wrong

lou salomon said:

hi tony, beautiful pics, found some mislabelled,

0007 - not entirely sure on that one but could be a song sparrow
0073 and 0080 is a song sparrow

US birders, please check if i got anything wrong

Click to expand...

0007 is a Savannah. 0073 & 0080 are Song. I agree that 0010 is probably a Savannah.

>page 3:
>0104 looks like a savannah sparrow to me

I agree, it is a Savannah.

I looked at some photos in Lou's post btw and I agree with him for virtually all of the photos I looked at.

I do agree with Lou's assessment on these:

page 1:
0104 (grand canyon) looks like a common raven to me
0011 (death valley) looks like a female brown-headed cowbird
0015 is a female red-winged blackbird

Click to expand...

Those are some great photographs on your Flickr page!

Thanks very much guys for the help and info. You can imagine how hopeless I am in the field if I get that many wrong after studying a photo for 2 weeks armed with a reference book ;-) !!