An Interesting Hummingbird in Northumberland County, PA ~ November 14, 2025

Jason Horn texted photos to me last night of a hummingbird near Sunbury, Pennsylvania. It was a 'Selasphorus' hummingbird that most likely was a Rufous, but the photos appeared to show a fairly long and wide tail, creating questions of whether it might be a Broad-tailed. So early Friday morning, we got permission from the homeowner to check it out and drove the roughly two hours up there.

A few minutes after we arrived, Jason spotted it flycatching from a tall Norway Spruce tree. Eventually, it came down to the feeder, which was kept from freezing by a heat lamp. I took a bunch of photos during its several visits to the feeder during the 3-1/2 hours we were there. I was unable to get a shot of the spread tail, but there was an excessive amount of rufous in the tail that ruled out the chance of it being a Broad-tailed.

Rufous Hummingbird

When we got back to Jason's house, we found 2 Common Ravens and a male Purple Finch.

Purple Finch

UPDATE: Hummingbird bander Sandy Lockerman banded the bird on the 17th and confirmed it to be an immature female Rufous Hummingbird.

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