How to impress the ladies...

[AndyJWest]

 

Fancy reflective plumage helps. As does being able to sing (many hummingbird species don't). But the male Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) has another way to demonstrate its biological fitness:

Quote

Behavioural displays are a common feature of animal courtship. Just as female preferences can generate exaggerated male ornaments, female preferences for dynamic behaviours may cause males to perform courtship displays near intrinsic performance limits. I provide an example of an extreme display, the courtship dive of Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna). Diving male Anna's hummingbirds were filmed with a combination of high-speed and conventional video cameras. After powering the initial stage of the dive by flapping, males folded their wings by their sides, at which point they reached an average maximum velocity of 385 body lengths s−1 (27.3 m s−1). This is the highest known length-specific velocity attained by any vertebrate. This velocity suggests their body drag coefficient is less than 0.3. They then spread their wings to pull up, and experienced centripetal accelerations nearly nine times greater than gravitational acceleration. This acceleration is the highest reported for any vertebrate undergoing a voluntary aerial manoeuvre, except jet fighter pilots. 

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2009.0508

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna's_hummingbird

 

Have any forum members from western North America seen this display, I wonder?  It seems to have quite a range, which apparently has expanded at least in part due to the introduction of non-native plants, and to people providing bird-feeders.

[CanadaOne]

I'm a simple man, I am in heaven when surrounded by chickadees.

 

My buddy gets hummingbirds though, I admit I am impressed every time I see one.

[Knarley-Bob]

Ever been in the middle of a "Furball" with these little guys? We have hummers around our yard, and a couple feeders. They do not like to share, and holy cow are they fast! Had a bunch tearing up the air one afternoon, I went back indoors. Those little buggers will actually sit on the feeder and guard it! Nasty little birds, but fun to watch.....

[Cloyd]

...and they taste like chicken. ?