Mystery Bird: Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna

Hmmmmm. Hard to see the tail, but she's got a fairly short, black bill, very gray underparts, and a white superciliary patch. I'll guess the species that suggests Tolstoy.

I also think it is a female, but the way the head is turned I am not sure I could eliminate the other member of the genus. It is photographed on a desert plant and habitat might suggest one over the other?

Excellent point! But telling whether the background is a desert wilderness or suburban garden presents similar challenges to IDing the bird.

I'm struggling with this one. Should either of the hinted- at species show metallic green feathering on the throat? Is it more likely to be an immature male bird? Other than these queries I don't see what else it can be apart from what Carel hints at.

Of the 14 species of hummingbird found in California, a number can be excluded based on size (Green Violetear, Braadbilled, Magnificent) and also the coloring of the underparts (excluded would be the female Costa's which should show white beneath as would the Calliope, Rufous, and Allen's, and Violet-crowned, with the Xantus's showing cinnamon) and then shape/size of bill (excluded is the Black-chinned which would show a longer bill although underparts match and I think the Blue-throated would also show a longer bill) and I believe we should see white on the tail of the Ruby-throated, which leaves us with the only one whose underparts are grey and which has a relatively short, straight bill...

so I agree with carel... after meeting Maria, the eldest daughter of Alexander Pushkin, Tolstoy dreamed of "a bare exquisite aristocratic elbow" which formed the basis for the character of our friend above...

Adrian, rather curiously, the metallic green you see is not actually on her throat but is the top of her head! Had we seen her throat, the red central patch would have given it away conclusively.

Thanks David, I see now the head is twisted to look upwards! That explains why I was struggling! The girl in question has three forenames if I've got the right one.

Ken,

The following photos of a Costa's female seems to show that we would expect a little more white underneath than as shown above- the difference is indeed subtle...

female Costa's Hummingbird

My Peterson's Advanced Birding does specifically discuss the subtle differences between four of our choices: the two from the genus Antilochis, the Ruby-throated and the Black-chinned, and the two from the genus we are currently assuming...

one feature is that Tolstoy's bird shows "a tail less rounded" whereas the Costa's is "visibly rounded" with the underparts "nearly white, paler than similar species"... as for the Black-chinned, it's undeparts are also "paler than in most Anna's" but "dingier than in Costa's"... and the difference between female Ruby's vs Black-chinned would show more on the crown, with Ruby's green and the other "more gray or brown"

Three names, yes, but forenames?

Her first is her given name, the second, the patronymic as the daughter of Arkady, and the third is as the wife of Karenin... I'm sure one could be flippand and come up with a fourth name designating her as the lover of Vronsky!

Another interesting question-Sibley's discusses the point that some hummingbirds will show a pollen stain on the top of the head-is that what we are seeing in this photograph?

Is it possible that there is some foreshortening of the bill in the photo? Is that a shadow under the bill, which might suggest that it is "leaning" toward the viewer and therefore not as short as it might appear? I don't have a clue about what sort of hummingbird it is (not many hummer species here in CT) but since the length of bill was cited here as diagnostic...just wondering.

Is the bird sitting facing the camera, with its head twisted up and around? It's an odd pose - perfect for an ID challenge! I am learning a lot by reading the comments for this and other ID challenges - thanks to all who share their ideas and experience.

Hello, In English Anna, Karen and Ena (for the Corrie fans as in Sharples). I know I'm not good at puns!

Adrian: forenames = four names! Perhaps my puns are worse!

Sarah: bill shape, length, thickness, and curve are all diagnostic for hummingbirds and my understanding is that the bills of females tend to be longer than in males, and adults longer than juveniles... in this case the bill of an Anna's should look a little heavier than the Costa's and tends to be shorter than the Black-chinned... a sense of bill shape and size combined with breast color, tail shape, and other field marks, etc. points to Anna Arkadyevna Karenina...

I happened upon this photograph of a male Anna's courtship dive caught on high-speed video:

male Anna's Humminbird courtship dive

From the NatGeo blog:

"The Anna's Hummingbird is now the fastest bird in the world. During courtship displays animals can attain amazing athletic performances," says Christopher James Clark, of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkley.

"I used high-speed video to show that during a courtship dive, the Anna's Hummingbird reaches speeds of nearly 400 body lengths per second, twice the top speed of diving peregrine falcons or fighter jets," he writes in a summary of a research paper published [Proceedings of the Royal Society B, June 2009].

"The accelerations experienced by the bird while pulling out of the dive almost reach 10g, also a performance record... this acceleration is remarkable, for instance trained Jet fighter pilots pass out under similar accelerations."

Hey Ken,

Sorry for the delay- loading scienceblogs at work (DC government) is problematic at the best of times and I never get to see the photos to reorient myself⦠you do make a good point with regard to pollen, however I seem to remember that the photo matched my expectation of the head being "metallic bronze-green" (Cornell) and not just green as mentioned in other descriptions so I think we are seeing the normal plumage colorationâ¦

certainly, plant species like columbine (Aquilegia) or Fuchsia spp. are designed for hover-feeders so that the pollen can be "dropped" onto the head and back of hummers, and with species specifically adapted to other pollinators such as moths or bees, the "ceiling" placement of anthers and stigma as in Pawlonia and Catalpa spp., would result in head or forehead placement of pollen⦠in the case of something like jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), the "spring-loaded" mechanism causes pollen to be transferred onto hummingbirdsâ bills as a result of the movement of the birdâs tongue (the mechanism doesnât engage for bees)â¦

I am sure that Sheri Williamson, who contributed to the hummingbird section in the Sibley guide, will be following this discussion and might pop in to correct all my errors and properly guide us to the correct identification keying for what we see above.

sorry about the coding error. i had 30 minutes of wifi this morning (in my spouse's office) and scienceblogs was misbehaving, so it took me nearly 30 minutes to actually save that one change to the file! Grrrr!

anyway, i was dragged off to the Frankfurt PalmenGarten, where I spent the day, taking hundreds of photographs of leaves and flowers and moss and tree bark. oh, and some küchen and tortes and kaffe! those pics should pop up sometime today .. i hope!

That is one small species of hummingbird! Love the picture. Wonder what that little guy is looking at!