Wonderful colors make Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna) one of the most beautiful animals out there. This medium-sized bird belongs to the Trochilidae family and is native to the western coastal regions of North America.
Anna’s hummingbirds have a shimmering bronze-green back with a pale grey chest and abdomen. The males take it one step further with a lustrous crimson-red throat.
This bird is the only North American hummingbird with a red crown. Females also have iridescent red feathers around the neck, though smaller and not as bright as found in males.
They can be found from southern Canada to Baja California and inland to southern and central Arizona. These birds have permanent territories and guard them with zeal.
Anna’s Hummingbirds are common in yards, parks, residential streets, eucalyptus groves, riverside woods, savannas, and coastal scrub. They readily come to hummingbird feeders and flowering plants, including cultivated species in gardens.
Anna’s hummingbirds primarily feed on flower nectar using their long tones. However, they will also eat insects they find on vegetation.
The breeding season lasts from December through to June. They build their nests from plant fiber and cover them in lichen. They typically lay on their eggs for two weeks before they hatch.
Anna’s Hummingbird is the only Hummingbird with a red crown in North America
Thanks to their wonderful colors, they look like more flying jewelry than birds
Colors on females are more toned-down
This bird is native to western coastal regions of North America.
Anna’s Hummingbirds are pretty small. With 3.9 inches in length, 4.7 inches wingspan, and 0.1-0.2 oz. weight, they are a blur of motion as they hover before flowers looking for nectar and insects.
However, they are large compared to other hummingbirds. Their courtship dives are wonderful to watch.
“A male flies as high as 130 feet in the air and then plummets toward the ground (and the watching female), where he lets loose a unique short high-pitched noise made by air whipping through his tail feathers.
As courtship progresses, the male chases a receptive female, who leads him toward her nest site, and perches again. The male then performs a “shuttle display,” where he swings back and forth about a foot above the female, keeping his body horizontal and his head down toward the female, often singing an intense song,”
They are quite territorial
They mostly feed on flower nectar using their long tones but will also eat insects when the opportunity arises
The breeding season goes from December through to June
Their population is estimated at 1.5 million
Listen to them singing here:
Their population is estimated at 1.5 million birds, which is considered stable and not under any direct threat. They don’t mate for life, not even for a whole season.
Both sexes likely mate with more than one bird per season. Only the females care for the young.
They are easy to attract. Set out a hummingbird feeder, then mix your hummingbird food using one part sugar to four parts water.
Don’t use honey or food coloring as some experts believe it is harder for birds to digest.
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