Hi Tweeters,

I shot a film clip Saturday evening of a young Anna's hummingbird at my
feeder. It seemed to be having a lot of difficulty breathing or withdrawing
its tongue, and appeared to be panting heavily. This went on for quite a
while, and sometimes his little head was tipped all the way back so that his
beak was vertical and his whole body was just puffing with effort. His
tongue rarely went all the way back in his mouth. The few times he was able
to withdraw his tongue completely, he immediately went in to get some
nectar, then came out panting again.

I posted the video to the livejournal birdlovers group--you can see it here:

http://community.livejournal.com/birdlovers/687474.html

I'm keeping my eyes open to see if the little guy returns. So far, nothing.
Does anyone have any insight into what might be happening to this little
guy? I've had Anna's coming to my feeders for years but have never witnessed
this before.

Thanks,
Susan Littlefield