Here is the video of my little female.

I hated to see this fall down the page unanswered, and I'm definitely not one of the "heavy hitters" where hummer id is concerned, but I do have an opinion.

Having spent a day looking at Ruby-throated females here at home, this bird seems to have a noticeably longer and slightly more downcurved bill than the Ruby-throats I was watching yesterday. I must confess that I've never seen a Black-chinned, but I have seen Anna's, and the bill and overall proportions of your bird seem wrong for an Anna's. The Anna's should have a shorter, straighter bill, and be more chubby overall in appearance. This bird seems longer in shape. I'd go with the Black-chinned. Where are you located? California? Just to be thorough, are there other possible species to be considered? I can't imagine what it would be other than a Black-chinned.

According to the guides, there are some other distinguishing features for Black-chinned that aren't visible, like relative widths of primaries, and white spots and color patterns in the tail feathers. Still, to my relatively inexperienced eye, I agree with you that it looks like a Black-chinned, and I can't really imagine what else it would be with that big "schnozz."

Any experts want to chime in for the definitive word?

Thats a great video. I like to see all the hummerhttp://www.network54.com/Realm/Bobky/thanx.gif

Kristin, I can retire now. Your analysis of this bird is very good. My experience with Anna's is rather limited, but I do know Black-chinned very well and this bird is a good example of an adult female Black-chinned. I could add that the crown is dull and grayish compared to the brighter crown of an Anna's and an adult female Anna's should have a fair-sized spot of gorget color in the center of the throat.

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

Thanks Kristin and Nancy for your feedback. I'm pretty sure it's a Black-chinned - 'tho a friend away from the forum that bands all kinds of hummingbirds, says it MAY be an immature male Black chinned. I think we have the right bird, just not 100% sure on male or female. This bird appears to be gray all over while another who also comes to the feeder has a beautiful "metalic" green back, but is the same in the front.

I live in the southwest corner of UT about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. They call this area the "high desert". Our main hummer is the Black-chinned, but we had Anna's and Costas this winter. During migration we might see a Rufous or two.

I'll keep trying for a picture of the other female in order to compare.

Carla, I don't see any characteristics to suggest that your bird is an immature male. If I am not mistaken, Black-chinned are migratory and have not been back from their winter 'vacation' long enough to have nested and successfully raised young. It would take an absolute minimum of 6 weeks from initiation of nest construction to fledging. A fledgling would look soft and somewhat fluffy. The green feathers of the crown and back would have broad buffy edges and the bill would be relatively short.

Here in southern Louisiana, our breeding Ruby-throateds begin laying around the first week of April, so the earliest one might see a fledgling would be mid-May. We aren't there yet. When did the first female Black-chinneds arrive?

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

Nancy, I don't think he meant a juvenile from this year - rather last. He certainly wouldn't be from this year as the males only arrived on March 29 and the females April 5. Perhaps I misunderstood.

Carla, in my experience with Ruby-throateds, a few young males from the previous breeding season can be delayed in attaining their full breeding plumage. I have seen young male Ruby-throateds with very little gorget development in late March, but by mid-April, these birds will have nearly complete gorgets.

Early last May, I saw a couple of young Ruby-throated males [from the previous season] that had not completed their gorgets, but the rest of the plumage was complete. This was very unusual. I have to think that a Black-chinned would follow a similar molt cycle.

Your bird doesn't have any gorget development at all. It would be extremely unusual for a male to depart the wintering grounds without having [at least] initiated the molt into breeding plumage. Additionally, the bird's general shape strongly suggests it is a female.

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

Thanks again for the info. I am relatively new to hummingbirds, so any information I can get helps a lot. After today, I am convinced that this is a female. I am about to post two more videos. One is just funny, but the other is just a better view of the same female as this video was (pardon the strange sentence!).