First Black-chinned Hummingbird in Ohio

On Saturday, November 14, Cheryl Bater noticed a hummingbird at her feeder in Galloway, Franklin County, Ohio, and later that day Jennifer Allen was able to obtain some photos. It was a dull, overcast day and the photos did not show colors very well, but it was clear that it was not the more expected (but still quite rare) Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird, but was either a Ruby-throated or Black-chinned. The shape of the outermost primary wing feather is diagnostic for each species, but Jen's photos didn't quite let me see which species it might be. The next day, the lighting was better, and Jen once again went over to Cheryl's and got better photos. A couple photos appeared to show is the curved, broad, blunt-tipped wing characteristic of Black-chinned...the bird obligingly raised up its wings a couple of times. Thanks to Jennifer Allen for allowing me to use a couple of her photos here.

Immature male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Photo by Jennifer Allen

A couple of Jen's photos showed that the single dark feather on the bird's lower throat was actually blue-purple, not ruby-red, making a very good case for this being Ohio's first ever Black-chinned Hummingbird!

Immature male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Photo by Jennifer Allen

 

Cheryl allowed me to come out the next morning , November 16, to try to band the bird and confirm what was apparently visible in Jen's photos. The bird had been at the feeder about 10 minutes prior to my arrival at 9:30 a.m. It reappeared almost immediately and was seen every 10 minutes until I set up my trap at 9:50. I captured the bird almost immediately when it returned to the yard at 9:51. This was surprising since Cheryl had said that the bird was rather skittish.

In-hand, it was easy to confirm all the diagnostic characteristics of this immature (hatch-year) male Black-chinned Hummingbird. The presence of grooves or "corrugations" on 90% of its bill confirmed that it was a hatch-year. It turned out that he had not one, but two iridescent purple (amethyst) throat feathers. 

Hatch-year male Black-chinned Hummingbird
Photo by Allen T. Chartier

The lighting conditions made it difficult for me to get a good photo showing the color of these gorget feathers, but once again Jennifer came to the rescue and got the photo below showing this beautiful color.

Hatch-year male Black-chinned Hummingbird
Photo by Jennifer Allen

The diagnostic curved, broad, blunt-tipped outermost primary was easily seen on its spread wing.

 

Hatch-year male Black-chinned Hummingbird
Photo by Allen T. Chartier

 

Here is a photo of the wing of a hatch-year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird for comparison.

Hatch-year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

There are subtle differences in the tails of Ruby-throated and Black-chinned hummingbirds. The photo below shows the slightly more pointed outermost two tail feathers of this Black-chinned Hummingbird. I do not have a tail photo of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird for comparison.

Hatch-year male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Photo by Allen T. Chartier

 

This Black-chinned Hummingbird was banded under Federal permit No. 23156 and Ohio permit No 23-015, and released at 10:02 a.m. The bird had returned to the feeder by about 10:15 a.m. and came in to feed every 10 minutes over the next hour as we discussed strategies for allowing birders to visit. I left the area at 11:00 a.m.

To read a more detailed report on this bird, including measurements, click here.