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 gray chest and abdomen. The males take it one step further with a lustrous, crimson-red throat.
This is the only North American hummingbird with a red crown. Females also have iridescent red feathers around the neck, though they are smaller and not as bright as those 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 use their long tones to feed primarily on flower nectar.However, they will also eat insects they find on vegetation.
The breeding season lasts from December through 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 more like flying jewelry than birds.
Females’ colors are more subdued.
This bird is native to the western coastal regions of North America.
Anna’s hummingbirds are pretty small. With 3.9 inches in length, 4.7 inches in 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 her, often singing an intense song, “All About Birds.”
They are quite territorial.
They primarily feed on flower nectar with their long tones, but will eat insects if the opportunity presents itself.
The breeding season goes from December through June.
Their population is estimated at 1.5 million.
Listen to them sing here:
