As I entered the arboretum, I saw a male Anna’s hummingbird performing his steep J-shaped dive. I watched him dive and circle back up to his starting point four or five times. He then perched on a branch towards the top of a tree where he began vocalizations and displaying his iridescent, gorget feathers. I soon discovered the female perched on this small branch in front of me. The male continued his displays, and I took a few photos as she perched there so still. When I looked at the photos at home I noticed that her eyes were closed in a bunch of photos. In The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, David Sibley writes, “The female may appear mesmerized, often closing her eyes and becoming frozen in position during the shuttle displays.” Sibley also writes, “Hummingbirds do not form pair bonds; they come together only to mate. Males therefore set up territories where they will encounter females, while females claim territories with good nesting sites.” I am left wondering why all this is happening in December.
Vocalization description:
The Cornell lab says, ”Anna’s Hummingbirds have a distinctive song that is long for a hummingbird (10 seconds or more). It's a series of buzzes, then a clearer, more tuneful whistle, followed by more emphatic chip notes; then the bird may repeat the whole set of buzz-whistle-chip sounds.” Click the link to listen.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird/sounds
Click on images to enlarge.