05-18-2023, 08:13 PM
Yes, WOW, Gary! Looking at the Instagram photo, that is an awesome image. Such quality is always due to the photographer but I would be interested to know what cam and lens you used, along with exif file data.
The better rendition of the Instagram image makes it easier to understand what's causing the gold like color. It's not an aberration of melanin or other genetic anomaly. These are new emerging feathers which are normally finished molting by the time the male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds arrive. In the photo of the wing, the lower four gold feathers are the upper four of ten primary wing feathers (P1-P4). The two end feathers, P9 & P10 (to the right) are the the feathers that produce the whistle wing trill in the male Broad-tailed.
Above the primaries, the next set of feathers are the secondaries, and the upper set are the tertiaries. All these have some new feathers that are a buff color. The same with those of the chin (upper area of the gorget or throat), the face around the eye, the back and the rump. Look at the edges of the feathers in the upper gorget and forecrown. They have the same buffy edges of new feathers that we see in fledged young of the year, one character that distinguishes hatch year birds from after hatch year birds. This will help you distinguish immatures from adult birds in late July through December.
The gold character is the bright light reflecting off the buffy colored new feathers edges. One part of the wing that will remain a dark buff or rufous, is the alula. The alula is at the upper forward edge of the wing, essentially a hummingbird thumb.
Girl hummingbirds whisper:
Goldfinger, he's the man
The man with the Midas touch
The spider's touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sins
But don't go in
The better rendition of the Instagram image makes it easier to understand what's causing the gold like color. It's not an aberration of melanin or other genetic anomaly. These are new emerging feathers which are normally finished molting by the time the male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds arrive. In the photo of the wing, the lower four gold feathers are the upper four of ten primary wing feathers (P1-P4). The two end feathers, P9 & P10 (to the right) are the the feathers that produce the whistle wing trill in the male Broad-tailed.
Above the primaries, the next set of feathers are the secondaries, and the upper set are the tertiaries. All these have some new feathers that are a buff color. The same with those of the chin (upper area of the gorget or throat), the face around the eye, the back and the rump. Look at the edges of the feathers in the upper gorget and forecrown. They have the same buffy edges of new feathers that we see in fledged young of the year, one character that distinguishes hatch year birds from after hatch year birds. This will help you distinguish immatures from adult birds in late July through December.
The gold character is the bright light reflecting off the buffy colored new feathers edges. One part of the wing that will remain a dark buff or rufous, is the alula. The alula is at the upper forward edge of the wing, essentially a hummingbird thumb.
Girl hummingbirds whisper:
Goldfinger, he's the man
The man with the Midas touch
The spider's touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sins
But don't go in