I took this pic yesterday,

I am thinking it is just a genetic abnormality.

Here is a pic of an Anna's with the standard black beak.


What to you think?

Laura
Rancho Santa Margarita
So Cal, Zone 9b

Hello Laura

Wow! Awesome pics!!! How cool to see the abnormality on that hummer...

Thanks so much for sharing!!!

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Laura,
I would guess that it is just an abnormality but good eye. I don't know if I would have noticed that.



Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Laura, in my experience, I have only encountered one such individual, an adult female Rufous. She had suffered a grievous injury to her bill in that all of the skin that covered the maxilla [upper part of bill] had been skinned back. Maybe she had scraped it in a window screen. It was a terrible injury and I doubted that she would survive. She had been fine earlier in the season when I caught her and confirmed she was a returnee, so I had to assume she had sustained the injury at the site and immediately before I caught her.

Not wanting to handle her too much, I just made notes on her band number and the extent of the injury. Not having any nursing/rehab skills, I just released the bird without any treatment.

A month or so later, I was back at the site and I recaptured her. The skin had grown back, but it lacked the black pigment, which developed before she departed for her breeding grounds [according to the host]. She did not return the following winter, but I felt she had successfully recovered from her injury.

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Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9

Lovely shots, Laura!