Before going to Ecuador I could only definitively claim seeing two species of hummingbird: only Anna's hummingbirds in California and a broad-tailed hummingbird in New Mexico. In Ecuador I saw five species of hummingbird on one hand of a friend with orchids dipped in sugar water in his palm.
With a higher bar and expectations I went out to Big Morongo Preserve and finally found the elusive (for me) Costa's hummingbird and black-chinned hummingbird around the same feeders, along with a few Anna's.
The Costa's male has a purple cap (that can appear black in poor light) and throat with throat feathers that flare out and back behind the head. It has a mainly green back and flanks, patches of white below the throat and tail and mainly black wings and tail.
The female Costa's is much more plain, grayish green above and grayish-white below.
They are found in the Southwestern U.S. and Baja California Peninsula of Mexico.
That's a crazy ruffle around its neck. Interesting adornment.
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