-- HUMMINGBIRD Q & A --
Albinos #1

True albino Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris)--with white feathers and pink eyes, bill, and feet--are extremely rare. The albino juvenile female above was banded and released in August 2003 at Chapel Hill NC.

Only slightly more common are "leucistic" birds, which have mostly white feathers but the eyes, bill, and legs are pigmented with black. This young female leucistic RTHU (below) was captured. banded, and color-marked with non-toxic green dye on the throat at Anderson, South Carolina USA in August 1999.

All text & photos © Operation RubyThroat & Hilton Pond Center

There are several sphinx moths (Family Sphingidae) that look and behave very much like hummingbirds. These moths, called "clearwings" or "hummingbird moths," are unusual in that most have wings that are transparent because they lack scales. The moths flap their wings rapidly and can hover just like a hummingbird. Hummingbird moths are also unusual in that they are diurnal, so they're often seen feeding on flowering plants during daylight hours. At right is the Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe), which even has small structures on the end of its abdomen that resemble a hummingbird's flared tail. To make the masquerade even more complete, when the moth uncoils its proboscis to feed on nectar, it looks very much like the long straight bill of the hummingbird.