Image/Photo Thread Of Any Images You Would Like To Share....

scifan57 · Aug 31, 2014

LannyC said:
After a week of trying, I finally caught and banded (ringed, for you Europeans) this little beauty:

It's an immature female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, my first pure albino of that species. Seeing her in flight, all I could think of was "Tinkerbell!"

Quite amazing, I've never seen an albino hummingbird before. How likely it it that it will survive for a full lifespan?

LannyC · Aug 31, 2014

J. A. said:
Is there just a difference in the use of the word (band - ring), or does it definitely mean a different kind of material or activity?

No, it's the same thing, just a different terminology. Remember, America and Britain are two peoples separated by a common language.

scifan57 said:
Quite amazing, I've never seen an albino hummingbird before. How likely it it that it will survive for a full lifespan?

They are quite rare. Aside from the obvious absence of camouflage, the lack of melanin leaves the flight feathers brittle and easily broken. Whereas feathers lost adventitiously (pulled out) are replaced in a couple of weeks, broken ones are not replaced until the next molt, which for hummingbird wing feathers is usually in midwinter. All hummers with white wing feathers have proven to be immature birds, with not a single adult documented, so this little bird's outlook is poor. But, by banding her, we might learn how far she gets on her first migration. Or if she survives, whether her adult feathers will also be white. These are giant gaps in our knowledge!

Albino birds are fascinating, beautiful, and tragic.

J. A. · Aug 31, 2014

LannyC said:
No, it's the same thing, just a different terminology. Remember, America and Britain are two peoples separated by a common language.

Thank you!

It's the same with Austrian German and German German: some expressions are different but mean the same; in general, we pronounce the words different.