Identifying Hummingbirds without bright sunlight (1 Viewer)

[WokeBecky]

I live in Central Texas and I have four feeders up that are frequented by many individual hummers. I'm sure I have black chinned and ruby throated but I can't tell them apart without direct sunlight catching their colors. Are there other ways to id hummers? I managed a decent picture of this pretty girl. Can you tell me what she is? Central Texas (eastern Travis County) taken yesterday evening.

 

[Lisa W]

Hummingbirds, especially females and juveniles are hard to ID. A couple of ways that help are the bill - straight or curved, the (sometimes) white on the tail feathers and which has the white, the length of the wing feathers in relation to the tail. The Peterson Field Guides book: Hummingbirds of North America by Sheri Williamson is a pretty definitive guide. Also if you go to Opus at the top of this page and look at hummingbirds their will be information to help.
I am horrible at the females.

 

[WokeBecky]

Even the experts struggle with identifying female hummers. I found a website with a .org ending that used the exact same picture as both a female ruby throated and a female black chinned. I pointed it out to them via their "contact us" form.