White eared hummer Arizona? (1 Viewer)

Not sure about this one, at the time it flew onto the feeders it immediately looked very contrasting (black and white rather than off white and dark grey) on the head and looked like it had a shorter straighter bill compared to broad billed. The bird also shows the green spots on the upper breast and a nice rounded head.


Could it be a White eared hummingbird?
Photo taken at Ramsey Canyon feeders,

What do you think?

Thats what it looks like to me.

I think it's a female broad-billed.

Here's a Broad-billed Hummingbird I saw at Paton's last month. I think it looks pretty similar to your bird.
http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=343054&d=1313961040

it does look similar Andrew, have you got a picture of its bill to compare?
I think it probably is a Broad billed but there was an element of doubt in my head, also I cant find many pictures of young birds, which this possibly is.
In the field it had a different 'feel' to it than the BBH that were in the area, that obviously does not come across on the pics.

PS hope you had a good time Andrew...we did.

Ok, bear in mind I've been known to be wrong about female and immature hummingbirds. But I'm going with immature White-eared. I think the bill is shorter and straighter than we would see on a Broad-billed. And the postocular stripe is wide, with that prominent black stripe. Ramsey is also one of the best places to see White-eared Hummingbirds in this area. And actually, when I've been there I don't recall seeing many Broad-billeds (don't know why).
Waiting to be proven wrong.

I'm going with Broad-billed but I'm by no means certain. The immediate impression of the head pattern is Broad-billed, but other features make me wonder.

To be honest I've never knowingly seen an juvenile White-eared. It's definitely not an adult female White-eared, which would have a much wider white stripe and much blacker dark stripe.

I'd expect even a juvenile White-eared to show a broader white stripe and darker stripe below. It does seem to show a rounded head shape and relatively short, straight bill, but it also shows a reasonably broad bill. If it's a recently fledged juvenile Broad-billed, which is quite possible at this time of year, you might expect it to have a shorter and straighter bill for a few days to a few weeks after fledging.

Unusually for SE Arizona, I've only heard of one confirmed record of White-eared Hummingbird this year. That was at the Ramsey Canyon Inn a few weeks ago but I think it was an adult male (not sure). They are usually at Miller Canyon every year, and often at Madera Canyon, but not this year.

Thanks for the id's its a shame it seems a little inclusive. I must admit I thought that it could well be a White Eared, it does seem to show some good features however I have just found the image in the link below. The pic shows a juvenile and it clearly shows a very broad white ear, rather than the thin white ear in my image.
Close but no cigar I think, looked good to me at the time but hey cant win em all, unless of course someone can provide an image showing a bird like mine.
http://johnvandort-ontheroad.blogspot.com/2011/01/immature-hummingbirds.html

Thanks for commenting