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Bob Ball and I traveled to Joplin to observe the hummingbird Larry Herbet had reported. The lady had moved the feeder under a car port and up near the house and about 3 in. under a bulb to keep the feeder warm. We were concerned that the bird would not come under the roof and against the house to feed. The lady had just arrived home and told us she had seen the bird feed early this morning. We had arrived a little before noon and the bird came to the feeder twice over the next 45 minutes. After feeding it would fly high up in a nearby tree, perch for a moment and then fly across the street towards a mobile home park. It spent more time in that area than at the feeder location we were watching. We drove through the mobile home park twice and while we did spot some hummingbird feeders, none of them were loaded. I believe there was one good feeder in there somewhere but we just couldn't find it. While the bird was not at the feeder very long, it was long enough to get a good view in the scope from about 60ft. It definetly is a Selasphorus hummingbird. It has a green back but is well marked with the rufous color pattern. The bird did have a definite orange line over the eye and then curving down to the side collar area. It's wing tips were as long as the tail and from our angle even appeared a little bit longer than the tail. It fed from only one port so were observing the bird mostly from a side angle. A couple of times it did a short hover and faced directly toward the scope, and then dropped back to the feeder. It was a quick look but I could not catch any appearance of any development of an orange spot on the throat, just streaking. I presume it was a female Rufous Hummingbird, but it sure would be nice if it was confirmed and banded. Bob Ball took a few pictures of the hummer but was restricted somewhat with distance and the shading from being under the portch cover (not a digitscope picture). However, you can plainly see the rufous coloring on the bird. Bob said he would send some pictures to Pat to put on the web page. As we were leaving I asked the lady for permission to move the feeder out to the edge of the port cover and into the sun and she obliged. Wished we could have stayed longer and taken advantage of the better light. Charley Greene County __________________________________________________ * Audubon Society of Missouri's * * Wild Bird Discussion Forum * *------------------------------------------------* * To unsubscribe send the message * * SIGNOFF MOBIRDS-L * * to [log in to unmask] * * To subscribe send the message * * SUBSCRIBE MOBIRDS-L your name * * to [log in to unmask] * *------------------------------------------------* * To access the list archives from July 2002 on: * * http://po.missouri.edu/archives/mobirds-l.html * * * * To access the Audubon Society of Missouri Web * * Site: http://www.mobirds.org * ##################################################