Avian Explorer » hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbird

Elizabeth — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:30:29 +0000

This week I traveled to San Francisco for business and I had enough time to visit Golden Gate Park.

I still don’t want to live in California but it’s nice to visit in the winter! The park was exploding in spring.

With all these flowers blossoming, you can imagine how many birds were around.

I saw more birds in one afternoon in California than I’ve seen the whole time in Utah. Of course this will change when spring comes, but for now I’ll think of Golden Gate Park.

I saw tons of birds and I’ll be discussing some new ones, but for today I want to mention an old favorite: the Anna’s Hummingbird. Anna’s Hummingbirds stay in California during the winter. When you walk around the Bay Area, the tops of trees frequently look like this:

I love how in some lights the hummingbirds have black heads and in some lights you can see the magenta colors. Here, there is a little magenta along the edges.

Here’s full-blown magenta.

and a little on the sides

I’m also throwing in some other Anna’s Hummingbird pictures from California. I love this background from the Fitzgerald Marine Preserve:

And here is a teeny tiny picture of an Anna’s Hummingbird at Crissy Field in San Francisco.

Utah must have hummingbirds because many people on our street have hummingbird feeders out. Here’s hoping they come back soon.

Anna’s Hummingbird

Elizabeth — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:15:00 +0000

Fall is a great time of year. The plants are producing berries and flowering, the weather becomes a little cooler. The last couple of days have also been unusually sunny, creating the perfect opportunity for photography. Below is a thistle.

These branches have moss growing on them.

This was taken at the Botanical Garden at Golden Gate Park.

I like the light on this tree.

In the same way that light changes the look of the plants, it has an even more dramatic effect on the hummingbirds. The following pictures are all the same bird.

Anna’s hummingbirds are very common in the Bay area and they say it’s the only one to stay through winter, although I’ve seen rufous hummingbirds in San Francisco during the winter-spring breeding season. I like how the white feathers next to their eyes looks like the sclera in a human eye.

So, you know how the feathers looked black in the above picture? It’s a trick of the light. Male Anna’s hummingbirds have a pink hood. You can see it below, apologies for the blurriness.

Here is an example of the ruby color, taken by an extremely skilled photographer.

In other lighting, the hummingbird looks green/gray. Below is an Anna’s hummingbird in a brighter light where you can see the tiniest glimmer of the ruby to the right of his eye.

I really like Anna’s hummingbirds because of their call. It sounds like two swords crashing together or an electrical signal gone crazy. Cornell’s website has a sample.

Below is another blurry picture of a hummingbird on the left. I like the blur in this one.

Rufous Hummingbirds

Elizabeth — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:49:00 +0000

Look at the picture below. Notice anything? Perhaps close to the center on the right?

Here’s a closer look. I found a hummingbird nest!

We have a lot of hummingbirds in the Bay area. They’re always whizzing by, making little scritch-screech noises like the clashing of electronics. This was the first time I have seen a nest. I’ve always known that the nests were small, but you don’t get a sense of how incredibly small they are until one is in front of you.

You can tell that these are pictures of rufous hummingbirds because the female on the nest has a white patch beneath her beak. Allen hummingbirds, which are similar looking and local have bright ruby throats. The male rufous hummingbirds are a shiny brown as you can see below.

I’m really excited about these pictures because both the cactus and the bird are in focus. Below is a close-up of the bird.

These pictures were all taken in the cactus section of the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It was FULL of hummingbirds. Here is another one in profile. If you go anywhere in San Francisco, I recommend Golden Gate Park.

Spring

Elizabeth — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:01:00 +0000

Spring has been coming for awhile here in Northern California. Audrey had his molt about a month ago. Conner is molting now. It looks like someone tried to kill him; there are feathers everywhere. Many of my friends have reported crazy hormonal behavior in their birds. Lots of screaming, biting, and territorial behavior. Conner and Audrey act mostly the same. Conner may be taking an extra interest in nest boxes. When I go upstairs at night, Conner has been spending time in his box in the dark.

In this picture Conner is in front. Conner and Audrey are inspecting the nest box together. It’s already been chewed to proper proportions by Conner.

Some of the outdoor birds have already had babies. Last week I photographed this baby hummingbird. You can tell he’s a hummingbird because of the beak. You can tell he’s a baby, because mature hummingbirds are colorful. This guy is grey. This is the first hummingbird picture I’ve captured that wasn’t a tiny tiny bird on a wire. They move so fast that I can never capture a mature one up close. This guy was very patient and let me take 20 pictures.

The blackbirds must not have babies yet. The males are very flirty. I finally captured one in a full flirty posture!!!

The females appear to be building their nests.

The song sparrows are extra vocal. The song sparrow has a beautiful song.