Page 3 - SC Gazette Garden Guide 2020.indd

Our Cover Bird: Anna’s Hummingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird: Present throughout the county in habitat where perches and ample nectar are available. Our only common hummingbird and the only hummingbird that normally spends the winter months in Sonoma County.
Seen as frequently in suburban gardens as in the lightly wooded areas
it prefers elsewhere. Encountered both inland and near the coast. Tends to move to higher elevations in the summer. Attracted to bright flowers and to feeders. Breeds in much of the county, but particularly the southern and eastern sections.
Introduction of exotic garden flowers has allowed Anna’s Hummingbird to extend its breeding range. Highly territorial. May be seen defending territory against intruders or perched high, scanning for threats.
Pale grey and green underparts. Greenish back. Males have a bright magenta crown and throat, although the brightly colored parts may appear nearly black in certain lights. Females mostly green, less brightly and
more patchily marked with red at the throat. Bill comparatively short for a hummingbird.
Often heard before it’s seen. Call note sounds like chit! Commonly makes a series of squeaky, grating notes. Also does a courtship dive that ends with a loud popping noise at the bottom--a sound that seems much too loud to come from a creature so small.
Unlikely to be confused with any other bird. Hummingbirds of the genus Selasphorus--Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) and, less commonly,
Allen’s Hummingbirds coppery orange and green overall. Adult males have a coppery tail, eye patch, and belly that contrasts with their bronze-green back and deep reddish orange gorget. Females and immatures are bronze-green above with paler coppery sides. They both have bits of bronze spotting on their throats, though females have more spots and a small patch of reddish orange in the center of the throat.
Allen’s Hummingbirds zip from flower to flower hovering above them to drink the nectar, ticking as they go. They also flycatch for insects or pluck them from vegetation. Males display by flying side to side or in wide arcs while emitting a bumblebee-like buzz with their wings
Rufous Hummingbird
(Selasphorus rufus)--that pass through Sonoma County in the spring and autumn are colored quite differently, with extensive rufous parts and bright orange at the throat rather than magenta.
SOURCE: colintalcroft. com/Sonoma_County_ Bird_Watching_Spots/ Annas_Hummingbird. html. An excellent resource for gardeners who welcome birds to their yards.
Allen’s Hummingbirds breed in coastal forest, scrub, and chaparral along a narrow strip that stretches up the coast from California to southern Oregon.
SOURCE: All ABout Birds - Cornell Lab - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/ guide/Allens_Hummingbird/id. © Robert Hamilton | MaCauly Library
2020 Gardeners Resource Guide - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3