Saturday, November 16, 2013

Black-chinned Hummingbird in PA ~ November 14, 2013

The Gearharts of Shady Grove noticed a hummingbird visiting their feeders. Sandy Lockerman captured and banded the hummingbird, which was determined to be an adult male Black-chinned Hummingbird, only the 2nd documented record for Pennsylvania. The Gearharts graciously opened their yard to birders, so I left at 4:30 AM and got to Shady Grove at around 7:00. Jason Horn and Devich Farbotnik were there and had the bird perched in a bush near the feeders. Eventually, as the temperature climbed out of the upper 20's, the bird soaked up the sun between visits to the feeder. I managed to get a few documentation photos.
Note the curved, blunt primaries, white collar, and notched tail.


It was really tough to get looks, let alone photos, of the purple-edged gorget, but glimpses were given at times during the three hours I was there.
This poor photo is the only one I got showing a part of the gorget's purple edge.


Again, note the curved, blunt primaries and notched tail.


Note the fairly long, fairly straight bill.