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Posted by Brian Rapoza on 17:35:30 02/10/12
In Reply to: Castellow Hammock posted by David S.
It's going to take more than good light and nice weather for that hummingbird to be positively identified. A hummingbird expert would probably need to examine the bird in the hand, or at the very least, examine clear close-up photographs of the bird's spread tail feathers. The latter would likely be the best option; I'm not aware of any bander who comes down to south Florida to band our wintering hummingbirds.
Until that happens, this bird, like virtually every Selasphorus hummingbird that came to south Florida before it, will probably continue to be assumed to be a Rufous. Anyone uncomfortable with that tradition (which I didn't start, but am guilty of perpetuating) can simply opt to refer to these birds as "Selasphorus sp." Who knows, maybe it'll catch on.
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