Anna's Hummingbird

I would like to invite you to post your spottings of hummingbirds in the new mission for Hummingbirds of the New World: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1244396002 :-)

Very nice Emma, I can see that the Anna, and the Ruby-Throated are very similar. Thanks for sharing the link of yours, I will provide mine here so others can see the slight differences in appearance http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/11415417

He/she tricked by the flower on the lamp, poor him! great spotting Emma :)

thaanks...........:)

beautiful..........!!!!!!

I bookmarked Brandon's link. I read a lot, so I pass on what I've learned. Glad to help Emma.

Here is the conclusion I was able to draw. Looking at the pictures here: http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/BTLH.html The broad tailed hummingbirds red/purplish marking placement is what tells me that the one in the photo is not. The markings stay primarily under the chin while the green coloration covers the entire top of the head and cheeks. The Anna's hummingbird appears to be the correct ID due to the way the red markings are not only below the chin, but also positioned behind the eyes, with the darker colored top of the head. The green breast markings are also an indicator. We can definitely rule out the Calliope as the shape of the neck feathers are a dead give away here. :-) hope this information helps.

I will do some more research tomorrow and see what I can find for ya. I have a few resources I did not go to yet. :-D

You are very welcome! I believe they may be moving on at this point, Ours have been gone for about a month now. First sign of cooler weather and they were on their way. We have several males and females that come back every year. the one male in the pics I have up here, is the dominant male, he even harasses the females when they come to feed. It's funny because after a little while, several of the females will come together and chase him off. So they can feed in peace. I have a video that I took at my dad's house with about fifteen females flying around trying to get the best spot on the feeders. will post it in a few minutes. Stay tuned. :-D

Brandon - thank you for the hummingbird photography advice. I haven't seen my Ruby-throated friends for almost a week. The feeders are still all full and I have neither seen, nor heard them. I was feeding them once a day and their noises were constant for about a month. Then gone. Mine were dive bombing each other with one perching in sight of two feeders and flying into the direction of whichever feeder got a visitor. I'd see black and white tail feathers square out when they were posturing towards each other, then one would take off and the other would follow. I never got a decent shot of the black and white tail feathers. Maybe next year - if they've moved on for the season.

Emma, it very well could be, without a picture of it either flying or of it directly from the back it will be hard to tell. I am leaning more towards Anna's rather than the others. It also very well could be a hybrid, as it has several traits that match the broad tail as well as Anna's. I've been trying to find a genuine ID'd species with a pic of each of them in resting or perching positions to see how the wings lay when not in flight, as that could be a strong indicator of the exact species.

Generally as with any other hummingbird species they use the coloration of the head as a display function, mostly during mating and territorial disputes. When resting and feeding, you will actually see very little of the bright colors on the necks and head. Also a tip for taking pics of humming birds, I set my tripod and camera up within several inches of the feeder, and sit back away from it myself, using auto focus and a wireless remote and take pictures. Some species can be very stand offish with humans, so unless they see you out there daily, they will not become accustomed to you standing even a few feet away while they feed. Setting your camera up manually or using aperture priority mode allowing the camera to adjust for the lighting, does help quite a bit.

I will have to say after some very quick research I am leaning more toward the Anna's hummingbird. The reason I say this is the shape of the colored feathers under the chin. In the calliope species, they are pointed and thinner as a general rule. The Anna's has rounded flat looking colored feathers on the chin and around the eyes.

Brandon - thanks. I know very little about the flash on the cameras. I have more camera than I will ever really use, so I read all sorts of camera tip pages. We are trying to ID this little hummingbird and having one heck of a time doing it. The colors look like one species but it's not native to the area it was seen. So we are still hunting IDs.

Heather, it all depends on the flash you are using, I do use flash for some of the photos I do of hummingbirds, although I use a diffuser, which dulls out the super bright white light, which will cause monstrous reflection/refraction in the iridescence of the feathers.

Emma - I was on a site a while back, specifically for photographing hummingbirds, and the site said that the flash can mess with the "actual" colors because they are iridescent.

The lightened picture, and the range you found it in leads me to Calliope still. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Calliope_Hummingbird/id picture #1 is similar. Also the wing shape. But I'm not an expert on hummingbirds - I just started reading up on them.

Very nice spotting! If you would like to compare the Ruby Throated Species, you can check my spotting here: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/7428217 Both male and female of the Ruby Throated Species.

yes of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have seen alot of hummingbirds, but i could NEVER get a picture. And when i did it was blurry! so its awesome how u got a pic

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emma - I have one of those hummingbird feeders too, but it sat unused for a long time. I will move it when I return. But the one in the spotting you commented on was bought on super-duper, end of season sale at Hobby Lobby. I thought it was cute and because it was made out of metal, I liked it. Plus I like Ladybugs. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/6641257

Wow...I'd be taking tons of pics of a bird that territorial. I have what I think is two hummingbirds in my area and they are Ruby-throated I think. They never stick around long enough to get predictable pics. I got lucky a couple of times. Where do you put the red hummingbird feeder? They don't seem to have discovered it, but do like the petunias and tomato flowers for some reason.

Anna's Hummingbird - This doesn't look like a male Adult Anna's because their heads are hot pink. They do have green on sides of chest. Are in California. Calliope Hummingbird Adult Males are in California, has the purple under the neck and dark under chins and green backs. Wings vary on diet/region. Black Chinned Hummingbird has the right color green back and dark under chin. Are in California. Ruby-throated - Eastern USA only, not California. Hope all that helps. If I were IDing it, I'd say Calliope. Source - Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Very Pretty!

beautiful !!!!!