Creature Feature: Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbirds are the most common hummers in San Diego, and the loudest. Most other hummingbird species around the world do not sing like the Anna's — lucky us!

They're tiny. They're pretty. They're charismatic. What's not to love about hummingbirds?

For this month's creature feature, I chose the Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) because it is one of the most commonly seen hummers in the southwest, but has a whole trove of little-known facts and features behind it.

💗 Let's start with the name. Calypte means "head-dress" in ancient Greek (fitting), and anna is a nod to Anne d'Essling, a French duchess and wife of an ornithologist in the late 1800s. It seems she was especially pretty in pink, like the male hummers pictured above on the right. (The female on the left is characteristically dull, like many other hummingbird species)

🎶 Male Anna's hummingbirds are fairly unique in that they sing to attract mates. Other species may call or whistle, but Anna's really put their hearts into it. In the Southwest, we are used to hearing their metallic, scratchy songs, but most people around the world know hummingbirds as a rather quiet bunch. Next time you hear this sound, you can be confident you're hearing an Anna's.

🕷 What about that fiery face? Males who get more protein in their diets tend to have brighter feathers, thus attracting more ladies. I cannot confirm whether this strategy works as well for humans. Hummingbirds get their protein from insects, which they deftly catch mid-air, pick off plants, or snatch from spiderwebs.

🌧 When it rains, birds invariably get wet. To deal with this, Anna's hummingbirds do what they do best. They move fast. Really fast. Similar to a dog shaking its body after a bath, hummingbirds can shake themselves 55 times per second.

This might seem like a casual thing for such a speedy animal, but the amazing part is the acceleration of its head. When hummers shake mid-air, their heads experience 34 G's of force. That's 34 times the force of gravity. Most humans pass out under about 4 to 6 G's! Incredible.

I could go on for days about hummingbirds. They are impressive animals that are easy to love and I'm so glad I get to share this planet with them.

If you want to learn more about these lil jewels, I suggest starting with this mind-blowing, scientifically accurate, and only slightly inappropriate video. Then check out the most recent observations around San Diego — they're so cute!