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Hi all! I just hung a feeder on my balcony, and almost immediately had several visitors, including what I think was a scarlet tanager, whom I am going to try and get pics of. I was able to get a few pics of one hummingbird, though they're not the best quality. I was thinking maybe this is a female or an immature Ruby-Throated Hummingbird ? I live in Western Arkansas. Any assistance would be appreciated! Thanks!
Thank you very much, Resin. I'm clueless about birds. I should have figured you'd solve this. My miniscule brain is overloaded with the few hundred botanical names I know, there is not enough room for any other sort of knowledge, though birds would be next on the list. Maybe I should clear out all my knowledge on Led Zeppelin, that might free up some brainspace for some new learnin'. And, hey, what do you do, write nature guides for a living? All I know is you live in the United Kingdom (is that near Britain? or is it near England?) and you own a pinecone. Thanks again for the answer, I appreciate it!
And just kidding about the UK/Britain/England thing...I know they're nowhere near each other.
The whole UK/Britain/England thing is actually VERY complicated ;-)
UK = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A political entity, comprising England + Northern Ireland + Scotland + Wales. But not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, even though these are dependencies of the sovereign of the UK; they are self-governing and do not elect anyone to the UK parliament.
Britain = Great Britain. A geographical entity, the largest island in the British Isles. Includes most of England, Scotland and Wales, except (technically) for all the surrounding small offshore islands (though that distinction is rarely made in practice), but not Northern Ireland.
British Isles. A geographical entity, comprising Great Britain, the island of Ireland, the Isle of Man, and all the surrounding small offshore islands. But not the Channel Islands, which although politically are dependencies of the sovereign of the UK, are geographically part of France.
Not just complicated - notice Resin said VERY complicated! There are lots of good articles in wikipedia about this vastly complex UK/Britain/England thing, and other countries, of course. I just saw this one:
[HYPERLINK@en.wikipedia.org]
Here's a bird feather ID opportunity, pretty far from a Hummingbird, though:
Then you throw in that whole thing with the King (who is / was the most recent King [I'm capitalizing King because I don't know if it would offend ya if I didn't ] ? ) and a Prime Minister and how you call fries "chips". Everybody must be very confused there. Does everybody call their own country something different, like do your neighbors call it 'England' and you call it "UK" but your cousin calls it "Britain", or is there one more preferred over the others by people in general? I'm not sure I used parentheses and these thingies [ ] correctly back there, but whatever. And how come you're not an 'Uber-gardener' or 'DG Admin' ? You just kickin' it here for fun? In any case, you're quite the cornucopia of botanical and avian nomenclature there, Dude/Dudette ( I can't tell from the pic of the pinecone). Not to mention geography. Have you ever been to the States?
So Scotland and Wales each have their own government?
Yep, Scotland and Wales do have their own governments, though with only fairly limited powers (Scotland has more powers than Wales does, though).
Quoted:
Then you throw in that whole thing with the King
Here's another complication . . . despite being a Kingdom, we don't have a king at the moment. Just a queen. The last king was King George VI, died 1952; he didn't have a son, only a daughter, who became Queen Elizabeth II. The wife of a king is titled a queen, but the husband of a queen isn't titled a king, only a prince (yep, rank sex discrimination, I know, but that's what you get with ancient institutions!). When Queen Elizabeth II dies, her son becomes king (will be King Charles III). But that could be a while away yet, QEII is still going strong despite being over 80.
Quoted:
Does everybody call their own country something different, like do your neighbors call it 'England' and you call it "UK" but your cousin calls it "Britain", or is there one more preferred over the others by people in general?
Depends on the situation!
Quoted:
Have you ever been to the States?
Twice, trips mainly to study/collect conifers, and birding as well.
