 At the end of May I posted on Broad-tailed Hummingbirds on Mt Lemmon. Here is another species, Anna's Hummingbird, more common this time of year in the Tucson area. I caught these shots in our yard in midtown, where in May flowers were in bloom and water was running in the fountain. Water is a big draw for birds this time of year, especially before the monsoon rolls in! Set 1: "Splish Spash, I was Taking a Bath . . ." Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/2000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, EV +0.33. Most birds bathe, either in water (puddles, fountains) or dust (common in the desert, for example, Gambel's Quail). Here, an immature male Anna's Hummingbird bathes in a running fountain in our backyard.  Looks like fun! Water is flying in all directions! Immature males have a partial gorget, the bright pink/red throat patch. The male gorget extends laterally on both sides. Depending on his angle to the light, we can see spots of the developing gorget to the right side as well as the center. As the bird matures, the rest of the gorget will fill in.     Birds bathe to get rid of dust, dirt, and parasites. They often preen following a bath, to clean the feathers further using their uropygial gland, an oil gland present at the base of the tail. They will rub their bill on the gland, then distribute the oil on the feathers. This bird took off quickly (as usual) and likely preened in private! Set 2: Female Anna's Hummingbird at the Flowers. Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/3200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000, EV -0.33. These photographs were all captured on May 6, 2025, when flowers were blooming in the yard. It is always fun to catch hummers at a natural nectar source (flowers), feeding themselves, while they transfer pollen grains from the male anthers of one flower to the female stigma of another, a process necessary for plant fertilization and seed production. In this sense, they are "bees with feathers." (Ref: Audubon for Kids, Hummingbird Pollination Practice).   Above and below, this female Anna's bill is loaded with pollen!  Set 3: Male Anna's Hummingbird at the Flowers Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/3200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1600, EV 0. The male Anna's throat and crown are dark in the shade, but turn a vivid rose-pink when the light strikes at the correct angle. Above, a male with pollen on his bill and a hint of pink showing on the crown. Below, he is feeding out of the direct light with the throat and crown dark.   Above, nectar on his bill, his tongue just barely sticks out. Below, his jaw is partially open with the tongue extended further. The hummingbird tongue is designed as a conveyor belt for nectar, forked at the tip and moving about as fast as the wings to lap up large volumes of nectar in a short amount of time. For more on hummer's tongues, including some fast frame photography of the tongue in action, see this link to PBS Learning Media, Structure and Function: Hummingbird Tongue.  Below, our male subject angles up to another flower with the incident sun reflecting off of the feathers of the gorget to generate a burst of color! From the Archives, Male and Female Anna's in Spring . . . .The three shots below are from Patagonia in February of 2018, showing a male Anna's at a feeder with nice coloration coming off of the gorget as he moves his head. The color of these feathers is structural, generated by the microscopic architecture of the feathers, reflecting only certain wavelengths (colors) at only certain angles. As the position of the head to the sun varies, the color changes. If out of the light or "off angle" the head will be completely brown, as seen in some of the frames of the male feeding at flowers above. For more on feather color and structural color in hummingbirds, see David Allen Sibley, What It's Like To Be a Bird, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2020, p 77.  Canon 7D Mk II, EF 100-400mm at 300mm, 1/800 sec., f/5.6, ISO 640, EV 0.  
Below is an Anna's female on her nest at Agua Caliente Park in March of 2019. Note that the female has a small throat patch.  Canon 7D Mk II, EF 100-400mm with 1.4x Ext., at 560mm, 1/100 sec., f/8, ISO 1000, EV +0.67.  Below, the same Anna's female feeding her nestlings on April 4, 2019. Note that at this angle the throat patch has a slight hint of red. To my eye, it looks like the nest is expanding to accommodate the growing offspring!  Canon 7D Mk II, EF 100-400mm at 300mm, 1/400 sec., f/5.6, ISO 4000, EV + 0.67 That's all for now! More coming soon. Happy trails!
1 Comment
A T Collins
6/21/2025 11:59:28 am
Delightful, capturing nature's exquisite members and bringing them Leave a Reply. |
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