A Rufous Hummingbird and Regency and Newburg Road Ponds ~ October 5, 2022

Ruth Dennison posted two photos of a 'selasphorus' hummingbird to the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society Facebook page the day before. I messaged her and asked if she would allow me to come to see the bird and try and get some photos of the spread tail, which is one of the possible ways to tell a Rufous Hummingbird from an Allen's Hummingbird. She granted me permission to come in the afternoon. It was still raining off and on when I got there around 1:30. A Nashville Warbler was very briefly seen in one of the large bushes. She told me which trees the hummingbird favored to perch in. In one of those trees, a young White-crowned Sparrow popped out along with a Dark-eyed Junco. They were both the first ones I had seen this season.

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Eventually, the hummingbird perched in view in that same tree. I was very lucky to get a few photos of the bird with its tail spread. After looking at my photos, I am pretty sure this bird is most likely an immature female Rufous. The pattern of the spread tail seems to closely match an immature female Rufous because the outer tail feathers are broad and rounded at the tips, the rufous extends close to halfway down the feathers, and 'R2', which is the second tail feather out from the middle, shows a small amount of white on the inner side of the tip of the feather and a small area of green between the rufous base and the black tip.

Immature female Rufous Hummingbird

I also got some fairly good photos of the head showing the gorget area. They show that the speckling on the chin and throat is fairly even throughout whereas an Allen's is supposed to have a cleaner, white chin with the speckling more concentrated towards the bottom of the gorget. Obviously, measuring this bird through banding would be the best way to be 100% accurate, but I am pretty sure that this bird checks all the boxes for a Rufous.

Immature female Rufous Hummingbird

Other birds seen there included a Chimney Swift and a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

I made a quick stop at the Regency Boulevard retention ponds and only found an Eastern Phoebe along the woods edge. The north pond continued to hold the two Blue-winged Teal, the Hooded Merganser, and the Pied-billed Grebe. There were only about a dozen Tree Swallows there, but one late Barn Swallow was still present.

Barn Swallow

I left there and stopped at the Newburg Road retention pond on the way home. The edges of the pond produced a Great Blue Heron, three Palm Warblers, and two Eastern Phoebes. I got two photos of one of the Palm Warblers eyeing up and eating an insect above it.

A Palm Warbler catching an insect

Eastern Phoebe

The fields around the pond produced an American Kestrel, 14 Savannah Sparrows, and 16 Killdeer.

American Kestrel

Savannah Sparrow

The walking path along the large overgrown field and a row of small spruces produced two Golden-crowned Kinglets, two Common Yellowthroats, a Lincoln's Sparrow, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and a Cooper's Hawk that quickly shut down any further activity.

---