Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus
Rufous Hummingbird, male, 4/8/08, Ed Levin Park
Rufous Hummingbird, male, 4/8/08, Ed Levin Park
The photos above and left show the rufous back that is diagnostic of male Rufous Hummingbird. Rufous can show a variable amount of green feathering, like this one, and a small number have all-green backs like Allen's.
Rufous Hummingbird, male, 4/8/08, Ed Levin Park
Rufous Hummingbird, male, 4/8/08, Ed Levin Park
The picture below shows the tail feathers; note the notched shape of the feather fourth in from the left (the bird's right.) On Allen's Hummingbird, this feather is symmetrically spear-shaped, a distinction that holds for both sexes in the two species.  For illustration of the Allen's tail feathers on a female bird, and for more on the distinctions between the two very similar species, see my Allen's Hummingbird page.
Rufous Hummingbird, 4/8/08, Ed Levin Park
Rufous Hummingbird, male, 4/8/08, Ed Levin Park
Rufous Hummingbird, juvenile, 6/18/05, Bassetts, Sierra Co
One of the first of the crop of juvenile Rufous moving through the Sierras in June of 2005; Bassett's Store on Highway 49 in Sierra County is popular with birders by virtue of regular feeders that attract the summer resident Anna's and Calliope, and the migrant Rufous Hummingbirds.
Rufous Hummingbird, adult male in migratioin, 3/26/02, Moss Landing, Monterey Co
This is the oldest bird photograph on this site, taken in March 2002. Our friends loaned us their beach house on Monterey Bay, and when we left the door open, this migrating Rufous Hummingbird got inside. I hadn't taken up bird photography yet, but with my snapshot camera I got this picture of our visitor exploring an orchid. I was able to send him on his way by catching him in a t-shirt and releasing him outside. Though primitive, the picture illustrates the solid rufous back and head that are diagnostic of male Rufous.
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