Immature Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

For most of the day I have had an immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird staked out around the Coral Honeysuckle vine. It would spend time preening and working its way around the multitude of flowers, and at times even perching to feed, a trait not normally associated with hummingbirds. A bumble bee also found the honeysuckle nectar to its liking, but not for long as it would be chased away by the larger hummer. House Sparrows flushed from the bird feeders would alight on the vines, but only briefly before being confronted by our four inch wonder. Then, in the blink of an eye, the hummer would zip up-and-away to an upper level perch in a distant tree, only to appear once again at the honeysuckle after a brief interlude. I then noticed that my hummer looked slighted different, and in fact there was more than one immature male using the coral honeysuckle, but never at the same time.

The markings on the gorget (throat) of this immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird are beginning to fill in, and there is at least one iridescent ruby feather noticeable along the lower margin.

Is this the same individual as the one above? Though the gorget markings look very similar, there is something about the alignment of the dark feathers around the iridescent ruby feather that does not seem to match.

An overall darker green back and bare patch on the head separated this immature male from the one in the photo below. Having never seen a complete tract of feather loss on a hummingbird I am not sure what has caused this. Could it be head mites or some other parasite as I discussed in my June 21st blog? I believe that this individual is the same one as in the first (top) photo.

This individual immature male, perched to feed, seems to have an overall lighter green color, as well as a full head of hair! Though we can not see it in this photo, the gorget was more heavily marked especially around the lower margin of the gorget, but without any sign of an iridescent feather.