Female Hummingbird

[suesann]

Hi,

I had been a little worried the past few days because the little female hummer that had been a regular visitor to my feeders seemed to have disappeared. I was delighted to see her back today and as I had the camera handy I snapped a couple of shots of her. I'm assuming she is an Anna's hummingbird? Can anyone confirm this?

On one occasion she feeding and was taking a few minutes rest on the feeder when one of the males came behind her and appeared to chased her off quite aggressively... Is this a territorial thing or a pecking order thing? I've noticed them buzzing by in pairs and assumed they were 'traveling together' now I wonder whether one was actually being chased off by the other??

I could watch these little guys all day... during the day I notice they rest in a hazel tree close to our house and are completely unfazed by the dozens of sparrows and juncos they are sharing the branches with.

Anyway, here are the pics of the female... Can anyone tell me if she is an Anna's?






Susan
Abbotsford

[Deleted]

Looks like a female Anna's to me, Susan.

We have had an immature male Anna's around, but the other day there was one that we glimpsed that seemed different (no obvious colour on throat). But I wondered if it was just poor lighting.

Yesterday we got good looks at her several times, and I'm sure she's an immature female Anna's. Looks very similar to your photos. Actually she was the only hummer we saw all day yesterday so I wondered if we'd lost the male.

This morning she was at the feeder early, but then the male showed up, and at least twice he flew toward her in the cherry tree and she flew off. Not sure if he was chasing her off or what. The encounter was not an obvious chase, like I've seen many times with Rufous hummers at the banding station where several males face off almost constantly. Male Rufous Hummingbirds are very pugnacious and seem to challenge or chase everything, but Anna's are not like that from what I've heard.

I don't know if Anna's have a territorial response on winter feeding grounds. I read somewhere that Anna's never really pair up. At some point a "pair" will have a mating encounter but then go their separate ways, leaving the female to take care of all domestic duties.

In other words, my answer to your questions is mostly I don't know. Hopefully someone else here does.

Stan