Hi Aidan,
This looks like a normal male Black-chinned Hummingbird. He seems to be undergoing some body molt on his forehead (you can see the white pin feathers there showing new feathers growing in). These stiff pins are probably what lead to the odd feather posture.
This time of year we see many male Black-chinned molting some body feathers. They seem to fit in some of their molt before they begin migrating south, then complete their molt on their wintering grounds.
Hope that’s helpful,
Heidi
Intermountain Bird Observatory
This is good information for me. Thank you. Typically I get no hummingbirds through the summer, so I don’t put feeders out anymore, but the fall migration brings mostly rufous and rarely the Blackchinned or Calliope. I’ll hang out some hummer grub tomorrow!!
Thanks for the report so we can all be looking for those migrants. I do occasionally see Rufous here on the Boise Depot Bench. If I were more watchful, I’d likely see more. I’ll be watching for them.
Diann Stone
Boise Depot Bench
About a week ago, saw my first “fall” migrant adult female Rufous Hummingbird come into feeder. At our altitude, along the Snake River, our resident hummingbird is the Black-chinned. So, it’s always a treat to see the first Rufous, headed back south. Have seen at least one adult Rufous everyday since. Today, a female this AM & then a beautiful, male Rufous with flaming red, flared sides gorget coming in since. Perhaps, the wildfires up Salmon-way are pushing some out, as well.
We get all 4 hummingbird types (BC, Rufous, Calliope & BT) in migration, but busiest fall migration times are mid-Aug thru Sept. Haven’t had this many fall Rufous for years.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
