[EBB Sightings] Ghost Hummer

Edtanov at aol.com wrote:

> I also live at Watergate in Emeryville and also saw an allover pale
> gray hummer.  ... It appeared  fluffy and very pale gray all over.  I
> assumed it was a chick just out of  the nest. Was I right?

It might well be a new-fledged chick - but if so, it's probably an 
albino whatever-it-is, too.

I once had the great delight of watching a hummingbird care for a new 
fledgling: the chick could barely stay airborne, and the mother bird 
parked it in a scraggy bush just outside my office window. The mother 
then went off in search of food, returning periodically to pour it down 
the baby's beak, and the baby spent the rest of the day either perched 
or buzzing from branch to branch. The baby still had enough down to look 
twice its parent's size - but the real feathers that showed were very 
similar to those of the adult female.

Sibley shows a juvenile Anna's as green on the back and grayish with 
green spots on the flanks. Allen's and Rufous are green on the back and 
sort of peach-colored on the flanks.

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