Hummingbirds For Mom

Anna's Hummingbird feeding at a pink flower

The Anna’s Hummingbird is the most common hummingbird found in Southern California. it was originally only found on the Pacific slope from Baja California to San Francisco. This bird has increased its population and expanded its breeding range in recent years to Vancouver, British Colombia, east to southern Arizona. The expansion is believed to be explained by the introduction of exotic flowering plants, especially Eucalyptus, red-hot-poker and tree tobacco,and by the proliferation of hummingbird feeders.

Here are a few more facts about the Anna’s Hummingbird. They have an unusually early breeding season. It is believed that the gooseberry plant and the hummingbird have evolved together, which may help explain why the red gooseberry is a favorite native food source of the Anna’s Hummingbird. This species of hummingbird also consumes more insects than any other North American hummingbirds, catching small flying insects on the wing in the manner of a flycatcher, or by hover-gleaning among the leaves and twigs of trees. Or they find sustenance at the sap wells of sapsuckers or by pilfering insects from the webs of spiders. The Anna’s Hummingbird eats more arthropods than most hummingbirds.