To the Birders Among Us

[Roger Eichhorn <eichhorn@xxxxxx>]

Here is a fascinating article about male Annas hummingbird mating  
dances and what photography has revealed about their behavior.  I saw  
mating dances myself in spring 1996 in the Tohono Odum Park (named  
for an Indian tribe that spans the border with Mexico), a few miles  
from my  apartment in Tucson, Arizona.  But, I think the ones I  saw  
may have been Black Throats, which were rife on the feeders I had on  
my balcony.  Unfortunately, I didn't have access to one of Andy's  
$50,000 high speed cameras so I wasn't able to photograph the mating  
dances!  Nor did I see the mating that followed the dances -- if  
there was even a female who was attracted by them!  I did take a lot  
of photos of the mostly hovering hummers on my balcony.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/08/ 
MN6FUU96H.DTL&hw=hummingbird&sn=001&sc=1000

Roger

p.s.  Here in Houston, we have a few Black Throats, but mostly Ruby  
Throats and never an Annas or a Rufous.