Anna's Hummingbird displaying on the ground

[Lisa Millbank]

I saw an interesting Anna's Hummingbird courtship behavior today that I hadn't seen before.  After work (S. Corvallis) I walked by a large Red-flowering Currant bush to see if any hummingbirds were around.  As soon as I went around a small coffee stand I could hear the resident male Anna's singing continuously.  It was difficult to find him, but finally, I followed the sound to the ground and found him sitting on a curled dead leaf.  He had the little side "wings" of his gorget fully extended.  I started taking some pictures, and then noticed a female on the ground in front of him, quivering her wings (she's the blurry green thing in the lower left corner of the photo).  They both flew up from the ground and began feeding on the currant blossoms just a few seconds after I noticed the female.

 

Unfortunately, the attached picture is not very good, but I thought it was interesting to see the gorget fully extended like that, and I wasn't aware of this kind of display that doesn't involve diving.  I wouldn't be surprised if people with hummingbird feeders see this frequently, but it was new to me.

 

Lisa

www.neighborhood-naturalist.com

 

[Hendrik Herlyn]

Hi Lisa et al., I have watched my local Anna's male at the feeder perform a similar display toward a female - horizontal body posture, with gorget fully extended, and making some strange sounds. But I've never seen it happen on the ground, just perched on my feeder. Interesting picture, by the way - the bird looks almost unreal! "My" feeder hummers never cease to amaze me, and I never get tired of them. They are truly one of the things I miss most whenever I have to return to Gemany! Happy humming, y'all Hendrik _________________________________ Hendrik G. Herlyn 2201 NW Grant Ave., Apt. 2 Corvallis, OR 97330 USA Phone (home): 541.230.5587 Phone (cell): 541.829.3223 E-Mail: hhac...@yahoo.com --- On Mon, 4/9/12, Lisa Millbank <lisa...@peak.org> wrote:

-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mid-Valley Nature" group. To post to this group, send email to mid-vall...@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to mid-valley-nat...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/mid-valley-nature

[howard bruner]

Hi Lisa

WOW  That is the kind of information and visual that keeps me looking forward to your every post.

Thanks

HJ

---

From: lisa...@peak.org
To: mid-vall...@googlegroups.com

Subject: [MidValleyNature:1370] Anna's Hummingbird displaying on the ground

Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 21:07:54 -0700

[Carolee]

That is an amazing shot, Lisa! I would love to know what kind of
camera and lens you use for photographs like this. Thanks for keeping
us informed on the local activity with your detailed observations and
photos. Happy Spring!

>  annas hummingbird male and female displaying LM.JPG
> 305KViewDownload

[Lisa Millbank]

In this case, even a cell phone camera might have done the job since I was
very close. The shade the hummingbirds were in caused there to be a very
small depth of field (focused "zone") and other problems.

I do have a fancy camera, but the nice thing is that anyone can take a good
picture of tolerant birds like hummingbirds, since they don't care much
about people approaching slowly. The most important thing that most birders
already know how to do is to simply notice and get close to birds. Other
easy, general tips that work with any camera are just to keep the sun behind
you and take lots and lots of photos on bright, sunny days. Any photo
editing software can correct simple problems like the color balance.

I use a Nikon D7000 and a 70-300mm telephoto lens for most pictures of
birds. However, there are a lot of less expensive cameras with excellent
optical zoom capabilities that do a really good job these days, and I've
seen lots of good pictures people have taken with cameras that cost
thousands less than mine did!

Lisa

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolee" <imcar...@comcast.net>
To: "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 1:26 PM
Subject: [MidValleyNature:1373] Re: Anna's Hummingbird displaying on the
ground

--