Anna's Hummingbird - Optics4Birding Nature Blog

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

In our recent series of posts about breeding California hummingbirds Broad-tailed Hummingbird is the final species. It is also the most difficult to find. Although he is the most common breeding hummingbird in the Rocky Mountains, here in our Sierra Nevada Mountains he is much less frequent. After an unsuccessful trip into our mountains to search for this bird over Memorial Day weekend I finally decided to head across into Nevada to hopefully find it with, supposedly, greater ease. Continue reading →

My final post for the hummingbird migrating in Southern California includes the last two species that we see here, Black-chinned and Anna’s Hummingbirds. The Anna’s is resident. It has limited movements (most of these probably do not move). The Black-chinned is highly migratory. The attraction for me to write these posts was the influx of species and general population increases here in Southern California. Even as a birdwatcher it surprises me as I take these photos how spectacular these little hummingbirds are.

Anna’s Hummingbird

Anna’s was the easiest to find. This simply required me to walk out in front of our store and take a picture. We often take this species for granted here in Southern California because it is so common. The Anna’s Hummingbird is unique. You can only find these on the west coast. The mature male’s (photo) throat and head become flaming red and it is very striking. Although not overly noticeable in movements or population changes the Anna’s does have some migratory travels. Most of our local Anna’s seem to be resident here year round. The photo on the left is our “Optics4Birding binocular test” since he stays in front of our store and we show customers the differences in optic quality looking at him. He is very accommodating… except with the other hummingbirds who want to eat at his feeder! Continue reading →