The Emperor Has No Clothes

After scrubbing and filling the water dishes, I stood motionless in the middle of the yard waiting for any brave birdies to arrive.  I saw what I thought was Zippy but his gorget was really small.  I wondered if it could be a baby Zipster.

Then I caught this photo of my little guy and did some research.  It is my  buddy going through a molt. There was a big research study in southern Arizona of seven different species of hummingbirds.  They found that Costa's, like Zippy, molt in the fall and winter while every other species molts in spring and summer.

I always knew Zippy was special!