While attending the wedding of the son of an old college buddy in the LA area, Sharon and I managed to get in a little west coast birding. The local city parks as well as a wonderful reserve 15 minutes walking distance from our motel provided us with some nice new year birds as well as a study in the local hummingbirds. We had three species to study....the Allen's, the the everpresent Anna's and the Rufous. One of the most memorable sightings will certainly be the mating J-flight of the Anna's male. While at Madrona Marsh Reserve in Torrence, a fascinating oasis in the heart of urban California, our docent for the morning Bruce pointed out an Anna's at fairly high altitude. The bird hovered at this height for a while and suddenly ascended up to a high altitude, barely in sight. Suddenly, the Anna's plunged at death defying speed towards the ground and then pulled up short to create a beautiful J-shaped pattern. At the nadir of the J-shaped dive, the bird emitted a loud chip note which I later discovered through Google is actually produced by the tail feathers acting as a reed, much the same as a reed of a clarinet! The sound is apparently louder than the bird is capable of volcalizing and saves considerable energy on the part of the wooing male. We observed his repeated display over and over for about 5 minutes until a female flew into the scene and the two flew off together.....a victory for the hard working male no doubt. (to be continued....we have two more days here in the Golden State. Stay tuned....)
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