Thursday, March 4, 2010

hummers

the male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD: freak of the sky.



seeing an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD do it's mating display is really an amazing thing - even if you don't realize it right away. first, the male spots a perched female. next, he gets into her line of sight and starts his slow ascent, rising straight up into the air, about 50 to 100 feet. then, he suddenly plunges, executing an amazing high-speed, 'j' shaped dive. the bottom of which occurs right in front of and above the female's head. it is at this point the an observer will hear one of nature's stranger phenomenas - a very loud, high-pitched 'chirp'.

for years birders and ornithologists wondered and debated over the source of that 'chirp'. recently, thanks to researchers at UC Berkeley, we now know that the male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD creates this bizarre noise by spreading its tail feathers at the bottom of its 'j' shaped dive, and that the wind passing through them at high speed produces this amazing sound.



unfortunately i couldn't get a sound recording of the 'chirp', but here is a good pic, and video...

thank you UC Berkeley:


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