Anna's Hummingbird

Taxobox
name = Anna's Hummingbird
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

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image_width = 256px
image_caption = Adult male
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Trochiliformes
familia = Trochilidae
genus = "Calypte"
species = "C. anna"
binomial = "Calypte anna"
binomial_authority = (Lesson, 1829)

The Anna's Hummingbird ("Calypte anna") is a medium-sized hummingbird.

These hummingbirds are glossy green on the back and grey below with green flanks. Their bill is long, straight and slender. The adult male has a glossy red crown and throat and a dark tail. Anna's is the only hummingbird species with a red crown. Females and juveniles have a green crown, a grey throat with some red marking, and a dark tail with white tips.

Their breeding habitat is open wooded or shrubby areas and mountain meadows along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to Arizona. The female builds a large cup nest in a shrub or tree, sometimes in vines or on wires. The nest is round and about 1 1/2 to 2" in diameter. The nest is built of very small twigs, lichen and other mosses, and often lined with downy feathers or animal hair. The nest materials are bound together with spider silk or other sticky materials. They are known to nest early as mid-December and as late as June.

Unlike most hummingbirds, this bird sings during courtship. During the breeding season, males can be observed performing a remarkable display, called a display dive, on their territories. When another bird (such as a female Anna's Hummingbird) flies onto a male's territory, he rises up approximately 30m (100 ft) before diving over the recipient. At the bottom of the dive the males reach speeds exceeding 23 m/s (50 mph), and produce a loud sound, described by some as an "explosive squeak" with their outer tail-feathers. [cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/08/MN6FUU96H.DTL|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|title=How hummingbirds chirp: It's all in the tail|author=Patricia Yollin|date=2008-02-08|accessdate=2008-02-08]

These birds are permanent residents in parts of their range. Some birds may wander north to southern Alaska, south to Mexico or move east from California after nesting season. Some individuals have been banded as far east as Alabama and Florida. They are very territorial.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue and catch insects in flight. While collecting nectar, they also assist in plant pollination. They sometimes eat tree sap.

This bird was named after Anna Massena, Duchess of Rivoli. A hybrid between this species and Allen's Hummingbird has been described as Floresi's Hummingbird, "Selasphorus" floresii" (Ridgway, 1909; Taylor, 1909); the hybrid with the Black-chinned Hummingbird was called "Trochilus" violajugulum".

Gallery

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.

* Peterson, Roger Tory & Peterson, Virginia Marie (1990): "Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds, 3rd ed.". Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-13218-X

* Ridgway, Robert (1909): Hybridism and Generic Characters in the Trochilidae. "Auk", 26(4): 440-442. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v026n04/p0440-p0442.pdf PDF fulltext]

* Taylor, Walter P. (1909): An instance of hybridization in hummingbirds, with remarks on the weight of generic characters in the Trochilidae. "Auk", 26(3): 291-293. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v026n03/p0291-p0293.pdf PDF fulltext]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.naturesongs.com/caprpici.html#LCAPR Naturesongs.com: Anna's Hummingbird]
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Annas_Hummingbird.html All About Birds: Anna's Hummingbird at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology]
* [http://www.sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/annas_hummingbird.htm Anna's Hummingbird Photographs] South Dakota Birds and Birding
* [http://www.indiesticks.com/?p=28 IndieSticks.com] HD Video
* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=3286 Anna's Hummingbird videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.packrat-pro.com/hummers/hummers.htm Anna Hummingbird nests in central CA]