Re: New Geo Field Guide Question

Guineabird@aol.com
Thu, 13 May 1999 19:46:44 EDT 

Nancy Newfield, a hummingbird bander from Metairie, LA, sent the following 
info:

I am sure the ABA [American Birding Association] accepts this species for the 
US [or Lower 48 States] on the basis of previous California records, which 
are mentioned in the "American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North 
American Birds" [Seventh edition].  The Canadian record is too recent to be 
mentioned there.

The operative criterion is whether or not the record is accepted by the state 
or provincial records committee [or other scientific or quasi-scientific 
body].  If the record is accepted [or becomes accepted] by whatever body 
covers records from British Columbia, then the ABA will surely recognize it 
for British Columbia.

...below is the original post that appeared on HUMNET about this marvelous 
sighting. 

Gene Hunn, Seattle, hunnhome@accessone.com

Date: Sat, 22 Nov
Gene Hunn, Seattle, hunnhome@accessone.com

    I made the run to Gibson's, B.C. this morning in hopes the Xantus' Hummer 
 would still be there. It was. Seeming quite content with its periodic (every 
20 minutes or so) feedings in the yard of our generous hosts there (whose  
names escape), who have gone so far as to provide a port-a-potty, expecting 
quite a crowd. As well they might, as this bird has to be one of the
world's most bizarrely displaced individuals. Perhaps with the help of that 
hurricane that slashed across Baja and ended up in Arizona a while back.
   Xantus' Hummingbird is one of some 50-odd Mexican species of the family, 
this one peculiar in that it is endemic to southern Baja California, having 
occurred outside this narrow range but once before, in Ventura, California, I 
believe, in 1990. Being sedentary, locally endemic, and probably relatively 
uncommon overall, the likelihood of it turning up alive and
well in Canada seems vanishingly small. Yet there it is.
   The American Ornithological Association checklist assigns it the name 
Hylocharis xantusii, which indicates that it is first cousin to the 
White-eared Hummingbird, Hylocharis leucotis, which is a rare visitor to SE 
Arizona and which nests widely throughout the high mountains of Mexico and 
Central America. However, Steve Howell and Sophie Webb, in their Guide to the 
Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America -- which is the last word for 
south of the border -- it list it in the genus Basilinna, as B. xantusii. (I 
don't know when it was last included in Cynanthus, genus of the Broad-billed 
Hummer.) The common English name which seems standard now is Xantus' 
Hummingbird, not, Black-fronted Hummingbird. Howell & Webb cite for Spanish 
"Colibri de Xantus," a name I'm sure no Mexican wouldrecognize. I'm sure most 
would call it simply "chuparosa."
   The bird would appear to be an immature, possibly male. The illustration 
in the new Western Peterson guide does not do it justice, as it is a rather 
bright, though pale, cinnamon color on the entire underparts -- with some 
observers noting a few glittering emerald feathers across the chest (hence 
male?). The bill appears dark, unless in perfect light it might show some 
reddish orange at the base of the lower mandible. This is not as it is shown 
in Howell & Webb, where adult male and female are illustrated, both with red 
bills (though the texts says the female's bill is dark above). It looked to 
me rather like a female or immature Lucifer's, except for the reddish outer 
tail feathers, the rather short, though slightly decurved, bill), and the 
truly striking facial pattern, of broad whitish postocular stripe bordered 
below by an elongate blackish ear patch. The wings are also quite blackish; 
the crown, back, and rump a rather bright green. It fed as close as 2 meters 
from us at times, too close to focus. When perched it often gave a series of 
sharp tiik, tiik, tiik notes, reminiscent of a White-eared Hummer.
   It first appeared last weekend (ca. Nov. 16), feeding on some fuchsias 
growing in the garden (no feeders were up). At which the owners of the place 
put up three feeders. It still feeds mostly on its own. It was not identified 
until Thursday, Nov. 20.



Hope this helps answer some of your questions.
Gail Frantz
Reisterstown, MD