Greetings,

We have at least two males in our backyard in Victoria BC. Display flights
have been more or less continuous all year. There was a bit less activity
in June through mid-August. It seems to be the young males displaying, with
the apparent adults beginning to display about mid-December.

In August, I've seen juv. male Anna's apparently displaying and singing to
juvenile Rufous Hummingbirds. One landed about 6 inches from a Rufous,
faced it, and sang for several minutes before taking off. The Rufous looked
very confused!

Cheers,

Michael G. Shepard
North American Bird Information Web Site:
http://www.islandnet.com/~mgs/birds/


-----Original Message-----
From: Eugene Hunn [mailto:enhunn at attbi.com]
Sent: November 24, 2002 1:44 PM
To: TWEETERS
Subject: hummingbird display


Tweets,

I've got two male Anna's hanging around my feeders and just now the one with
the full gorget was perched above the feeders singing while the other male,
with a still partial gorget was engaged in his full display flight, towering
up about 30 feet then careening straight down, the wings making a loud
"cheep" at the bottom. What's going on? The singing male seemed to ignore
the display. Also, is there any evidence that Anna's might breed twice in a
year? Once in late fall-early winter, then again in early spring? In any
case, they seem to sing most of the year (with a notable absence or scarcity
in late spring-summer.

Gene.