I witnessed the identical behavior yesterday that Bob McMurtrie (and others) described and it looked suspiciously like mating behavior to me, though the "male" had only a small spot of iridescence on the throat and there have been no courting flights that I saw. Two Anna's have been bumping each other off our feeder for the last few weeks until yesterday when they tangled at the feeder and fluttered together to the ground, continuing for 10-15 seconds on the patio before they flew off in different directions. Anyone know if this behavior is fighting, mating or practice mating by juveniles?


David Gluckman
811 22nd St.
Pt. Townsend, WA 98368
360 379-0360