Photo Study Of An Anna's Hummingbird In Shartlesville, PA (Berks), February 20th, 2011

   Scott Weidensaul banded this neat, little female Anna's Hummingbird at the Mountain Springs Campground in Shartlesville on November 21st, 2010. Apparently the hummer
   had already been around for a few weeks before anyone realized what it was, a first for Pennsylvania. Well, she's still coming to feeders at M75 and M69 as well as hawking
   insects at the sewerage treatment plant across the road. Apparently, our winter doesn't seem to bother her and she'll probably hang around until the hormones start telling
   her to go back to the West Coast for breeding. In any event, I thought a comparison of some photos of the Anna's starting last November up to and including today might be
   in order.

                
                                                                                                                             Today Near The Treatment Plant     
                          
                                                                                                                                           February 3, 2011 At M69
                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                       December 27th, 2010

 
December 4th, 2010

                      November 29th, 2010                                    

 
November 24th, 2010 At M75

   The Anna's Hummingbird  (Calypte anna) is a medium-sized hummingbird (4 inches long with a 5 1/4 inch wingspan; weight ~4.3 grams) native to the west coast of North
   America. Females and juveniles have a green crown, a gray throat, a gray chest and belly, and a dark, rounded tail with white tips on the outer feathers. These birds feed on
   nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue. They also consume small insects caught in flight. Anna's Hummingbirds are found along the west coast from southern
   Canada to northern Baja California and inland to southern Arizona. Although most references say Anna's are permanent residents, there are actually major post-breeding
   movements - north in Canada and Alaska during the summer, and south and southeast into Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in winter. No one really knows what
   populations are moving. Also, birds have been spotted far outside their usual range in such places as Saskatchewan, New York, Florida, Louisiana and now, thanks to this
   bird, Pennsylvania. Anna's Hummingbirds are the only hummingbirds to spend the winter in northern climates; they are able to do this as there are enough winter flowers
   and food to support them. During very cold weather, Anna's Hummingbirds gradually gain weight during the day as they convert sugar to fat. In addition, hummingbirds with
   inadequate stores of body fat or insufficient plumage are able to survive periods of sub-freezing weather by lowering their metabolic rate and entering a state of torpor.
   (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; The Sibley Guide To Birds; Scott Weidensaul)

    To see a larger image of any of today's (February 20th, 2011) photos below, please click on the either the thumbnails or the captions...thanks!

        © Howard B. Eskin 2011     Please email your comments to hbeskin@voicenet.com      Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index