Hello everyone, first post here. Just started with my first feeder a few weeks ago. I'm in Austin. So far, Ive noticed several different hummers coming to my feeder.They sure are fun to watch. I'm trying to learn how to identify the different types as well as male and female. My mom lives up by the Lake of the Ozarks and has been a hummer fan for quite a while. Anyway, looking forward to learning. Let me see if I can post a picture. I think this is a black chin. Am I right?


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Hi Mike welcome aboard. We have some members in Texas here as well.



- Andrew - Southern Ontario, Canada - Zone 6
- Won't Get Fooled Again ~ The Who.

Welcome to the forum Mike! Nice pictures !! Am sure you will like it here!

Carol
Milford, CT
Zone 6

Welcome aboard Mike. I canīt confirm your hummer ID but Iīm sure somebody here can.

Hi Mike and a big Texas sized welcome to you. I am glad you found the forum. You will learn lots about your birds as well as the plants they enjoy. If you are able to attend, you should consider the Rockport hummingbird festival. You will learn ots there too and a couple of our members do participate.

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

Mike,

Welcome - and I believe your instinct is correct, your bird appears to be a Black-chinned Hummingbird, which is the primary species breeding in your area. While it could be a young male, I think this is a female. As you probably know, an adult male would have a dark gorget, with black along the chin and iridescent purple below.

However, it's not out of the question that you could also get a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in your yard, particularly during migration, as you're only slightly west of the edge of their breeding range. (The two species are largely "counterparts" on either side of a line roughly between Houston and San Antonio, and there's no fixed "point" at which you can say you're in one range or the other.)

And aside from these two species, which are the primary breeding hummingbirds in Texas, there are records of several other species in the Austin area, though most are rare.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge, LA