This morning, while watching a single male Anna's Hummingbird feed while
perched at one of my feeders another male approached in an aggressive
manner at top speed. His trajectory was flat, not diving or pulling out of
a dive and he stopped suddenly immediately below the other male and as he
stopped, he made the "dive sound. I could see his tail flare at the same
instant, but of course could not tell if that flare caused the sound or if
it was simply used as a "brake."
Lately I have been recording this sound outside my office using the mic
that always monitors the outdoors here, and I keep hearing two forms of the
sound. One occurs with no "introduction" and the other is preceded by a
wing trill typical of the downward part of their dive. That trill probably
serves as an announcement to interloping males and to females that he is
about to display and "beep" to get their attention. I am now trying to get
more visual observations of the behavior where he can "beep" without
diving. I still have never observed one "beeping" while perched.
Doug
***************************************
Doug Von Gausig
Natural Sounds and Photos at:
http://naturesongs.com
More Photos at:
http://www.criticaleyephoto.com
Clarkdale, Central Arizona, USA
***************************************
|