photos by Greg Hofmann

1/27/03: This Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) dropped by our Visitor Center on a sunny day in January. He did one pendulum dive (a mating display), then perched atop a nearby oak tree and began loudly trilling his complex song of squeaking and grating notes (inset: hummer in mid-song). His red throat and crown show their color only when the angles between feather, sun, and viewer are just right, since the color is produced by iridescence; otherwise these feathers look dark.