How to Identify aAnna's Hummingbird
Calypte anna · 3.9–4.3 in (10–11 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Metallic green above, grayish below, with a brilliant rose-red gorget extending up over the whole crown.
Female
Green above and gray below, usually with a small patch of red flecks in the centre of the throat.
Male photo: Robert McMorran, United States Fish and Wildlife Service / Wikimedia, Public domain · Female photo: Mfield, Matthew Field, http://www.photography.mattfield.com / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Field marks
- Male’s iridescent red covering the crown as well as the throat
- Stocky, short-billed and broad-tailed for a hummingbird
- Grayish rather than white underparts
- Colour flashes only when light strikes it head-on
Similar species
What it sounds like
A dry, scratchy, buzzing song delivered from a perch — unusual among North American hummingbirds — plus sharp chip notes.
Behaviour that gives it away
The male climbs over 100 feet then dives, producing a loud explosive squeak with his tail feathers at the bottom of the plunge.
Habitat & range
Gardens, parks, chaparral and open woodland along the West Coast, increasingly north into the Pacific Northwest.
When you'll see it
Present all year in western North America.
What it eats
Nectar, small insects and spiders, plus sugar water at feeders.
Did you know?
Its dive display ends with a sharp squeak produced not by its voice but by air rushing through its spread tail feathers.
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