ML179700851

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I've seen many Anna's (and Allen's) hummingbirds over the years in CA. So, I know the distinctive metallic buzz/chirp that they make. While in my yard, doing some unrelated photography, I heard the sound. About 10 minutes later, I was almost struck by the hummingbird in question as it flew by to a patch of agastache. I quickly shot a picture - I only got one before it flew off. As such, my camera wasn't set for the lighting and the photo was underexposed. I d-lighted the image to bring out the bird, but the color wasn't well preserved. Attached in a version of the image where I've adjusted the image to correct the color, matching the adobe wall color as well as the color of the agastache to the right. There are several hummingbird species that are common in the area. Black-chinned, broad tailed, calliope and rufous. There was no rufous/brown apparent on the bird. For this reason, I ruled out Rufous. The colored spot was more or less circular, unlike what would be expected on a calliope. Finally the mottled chest suggested it was an Anna's and not a broad tailed. Given this and the call, I assumed that it was an Anna's.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D80

ISO

100

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/9.0

Shutter speed

0.01 sec

Dimensions

1725 pixels x 1156 pixels

Original file size

1.46 MB