Photograph by David Young.
Archilochus colubrisSelasphorus platycercus -- ruby-throated broad-tailed hummingbird, Aspen, Colorado.
15 Comments
nlb.birder · 24 September 2012
I'm pretty sure this is a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). You can see the rufous in the outer tail feathers, and Ruby-throated would be pretty unusual in CO. Broad-taileds are common in the Aspen area.
vhutchison · 24 September 2012
nlb.birder: You are correct!
Henry J · 24 September 2012
They hum because they haven't yet learned the words!
Matt Young · 24 September 2012
I’m pretty sure this is a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus).
Fixed, thanks!
Paul Burnett · 24 September 2012
...and a Lupine, possibly Lupinus polyphyllus?
lynnwilhelm · 24 September 2012
I'm quite certain that's a Salvia, probably Salvia farinacea or Mealycup sage.
Nice pic.
apokryltaros · 24 September 2012
Paul Burnett said:
...and a Lupine, possibly Lupinus polyphyllus?
It can't be a lupine, as a lupine has a bean-like flower (i.e., a compressed banana or shoe-shape wearing a bonnet).
lynnwilhelm is correct in that it's a species of sage.
apokryltaros · 24 September 2012
nlb.birder said:
I'm pretty sure this is a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). You can see the rufous in the outer tail feathers, and Ruby-throated would be pretty unusual in CO. Broad-taileds are common in the Aspen area.
Ruby-throated's are never found east of the Rockies.
Dragoness · 25 September 2012
The wings!!! I can almost touch them and expect them to be so smooth, so soft!
Beautiful!
Kevin B · 25 September 2012
Henry J said:
They hum because they haven't yet learned the words!
At least they don't stick their fingers in their ears and go "LA LA LA".
Henry J · 25 September 2012
Ah, but what if that's just because they don't have fingers? :p
Kevin B · 25 September 2012
Henry J said:
Ah, but what if that's just because they don't have fingers? :p
It that a design inference?
Dragoness · 25 September 2012
Henry J said:
Ah, but what if that's just because they don't have fingers? :p
Of course they have digits!
They use their wings and bones as a crafty cat uses their front paws, or as the fish I feed my RES turtle to who also has 5 digits at the end of each of her appendages.
nlb.birder · 26 September 2012
apokryltaros said:
nlb.birder said:
I'm pretty sure this is a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). You can see the rufous in the outer tail feathers, and Ruby-throated would be pretty unusual in CO. Broad-taileds are common in the Aspen area.
Ruby-throated's are never found east of the Rockies.
Did you mean to say west? If so, that's almost correct. They do vagrate west of the Rockies occasionally. For example, California has 11 accepted records of Ruby-throated. But yes, their primary range is only east of the Rockies, as seen here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ruby-throated_hummingbird/id
Erik J. · 1 October 2012
What Hummingbird is mostly a gray body, with white tips on the tail and a green stripe down the back?
15 Comments
nlb.birder · 24 September 2012
I'm pretty sure this is a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). You can see the rufous in the outer tail feathers, and Ruby-throated would be pretty unusual in CO. Broad-taileds are common in the Aspen area.
vhutchison · 24 September 2012
nlb.birder: You are correct!
Henry J · 24 September 2012
They hum because they haven't yet learned the words!
Matt Young · 24 September 2012
Paul Burnett · 24 September 2012
...and a Lupine, possibly Lupinus polyphyllus?
lynnwilhelm · 24 September 2012
I'm quite certain that's a Salvia, probably Salvia farinacea or Mealycup sage.
Nice pic.
apokryltaros · 24 September 2012
apokryltaros · 24 September 2012
Dragoness · 25 September 2012
The wings!!!
I can almost touch them and expect them
to be so smooth, so soft!
Beautiful!
Kevin B · 25 September 2012
Henry J · 25 September 2012
Ah, but what if that's just because they don't have fingers? :p
Kevin B · 25 September 2012
Dragoness · 25 September 2012
nlb.birder · 26 September 2012
Erik J. · 1 October 2012
What Hummingbird is mostly a gray body, with white tips on the tail and a green stripe down the back?