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Posted by Vince Lucas on 15:51:29 11/22/06
All:
I received this e-mail from Peter Quasius, President of Audubon of SW Florida. A visiting Ohio birder, Wayne Wauligman, photographed this hummingbird (copyrights belong to Wayne) on the property of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida here in Naples, Collier County last Saturday, November 18th. He suggests that it might be a possible Green Viotet-ear. The photos are anything but conclusive due to the relative size of the hummingbird in the image! I suggested that it might be a Buff-bellied Hummingbird, especially given the fact that the bird gave out a two-note call as well as the fact that the bill on this bird was decurved as well as other descriptive points made by the original observer. Wayne said that it had white cheek patches which doesn't fit any description of Green Violet-ear I've ever seen. Buff-bellied Hummingbirds have occurred here in Naples as recently as two years ago. The only problem I have with calling this bird a BBHU is that Wayne said the bill was black. Perhaps this could may make it a juvenile or it may just be an artifact of poor lighting. I have not seen this bird and at this time I can not go search for it. Perhaps tomorrow. At any rate, what do others think? The original photos as I received them can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/ygokay
and
http://tinyurl.com/ylk34n
The forwarded commentary by Wayne Wauligman follows:
From: WRWPGW@aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:37:26 -0500
Subject: Green Violet-ear at Naples Conservancy
To: info@audubonswfl.org
CC: WRWPGW@aol.com
Dear Sir:
As a birder from Ohio visiting friends in Naples, I had a great visit to the Conservancy this past Saturday, Nov. 18. At about 9:45 that morning we saw a hummingbird visit the flowering tree next to the gazebo in front of the hawk cages. It was a large hummingbird, bigger than Rufous, Anna's or Ruby-throated. It had a two note high pitched call. I saw a black beak, (downcurved), and green, blue and buff coloration overall. The two photos attached show it in the middle of the flowering tree, facing away, with green coloration on the back, buff on the flank, a squared off tail, and a light cheek patch. I thought the light cheek patch was due to refraction, as I did not see it as white when I observed it through my binoculars. In the photo I noticed the wings are shorter than the tail. I ruled out Magnificant Hummingbird because of its overall black appearance and that the wings at rest are as long as its tail. My educated guess is that it was a Green Violet-ear Hummingbird. Has anyone else seen this hummingbird? Can anyone identify it in the attached two photos? (One is an enlargement of the other.)
The original photo, although poor in quality and distant, was taken as a NEF file and converted to the attached jpeg files. I used a Nikon D70s camera and a 300 mm lens.
Sincerely,
Wayne Wauligman
wrwpgw at AOL.com
ps. I sent this e-mail to the Conservancy but there has been no reply so far.
As I said, these are large image files so a DSL line or fast connection is helpful. Comments as to posible ID of this hummingbird would be most appreciated.
Thanks and here's wishing everyone a Happy Turkey Day tomorrow!
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