I saw a young visitor out my kitchen window this morning. It made my day. She sat in a yucca tree and groomed herself meticulously--long enough for me to run and fetch my camera and fire off 31 frames. Most of the hummingbirds in our yard are the black-chinned variety. This one had a prominent yellow spot on her beak that I hadn't noticed until I was looking closely at the images blown up on my computer.
I was stumped. A hummer with a yellow spot on its beak? Never heard of one. I looked further. She was cleaning her needle-thin beak with her feet.
A few frames later cleared up the mystery. The yellow must have been pollen, now washed away by the bird's hygienic habits. I'm still not sure, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this young female is, indeed, a black-chinned hummingbird.
It's definitely adorable.
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