Is it true?

[Charline]

I was photographing the red-throated hummers yesterday. None of the birds had ruby throats. Someone said it was because all the male birds had left for the south. Is it true or not?

[Shortsighted]

Men! Always taking off on a whim. I'm not condoning it but simply acknowledge the truth ... the males quit the scene first. Females and juveniles migrate later after the males have had some fun and evaluated their winter habitat. We don't need to get into some of the grittier details.

[Charline]

Ok, so it's true. Thanks, SS.


Are these juvenile or female?



Here is a link to the original image.


https://charline.pixels.com/featured/humming-bird-flying-to-flower-charline-xia.html

[Shortsighted]

An adult female hummingbird has essentially the same appearance as a juvenile bird. A juvenile male bird might sometimes show some streaking on the throat with a hint of red, or black markings. Adult males also have a longer tail. Females and young juvies have a white throat. An adult female might have a stronger green on the crown of the head than a juvenile. This feature might not be visible when they are wearing a Fascinator as might happen when they are being shot by a celebrity photographer, like Dinu. No offense intended, Charline, but when it comes to bird photography the rest of us are just lowly paparazzi. Still, you have a nice composition but perhaps a but over-exposed. I mean, the bird is stark naked! 

[Charline]

Ok, so it's hard to tell.

I could see there were at least two birds. My guess was one mother, and the other one juvenile.

Thanks!