Anna's Hummingbird Identification Guide

Key Field Marks

• Medium-large hummingbird, about 4 inches (10 cm) long, with a relatively short, straight black bill and a fairly stocky, broad-tailed build.
• Adult male: iridescent rose-pink to magenta gorget that wraps up over the crown as well as the throat — the only widespread North American hummingbird with a colored crown to match the throat. Body is dull grayish-green above and pale gray below.
• Adult female: metallic green back, gray underparts, and a whitish throat usually marked with a small central patch of pink-red spotting (variable, sometimes nearly absent).
• Immatures resemble females; young males slowly acquire scattered pink throat/crown feathers.
• Tail is fairly broad and rounded compared to the notched tails of some other western hummingbirds.

Behavior & Display

• Males give a spectacular, near-vertical J-shaped display dive from 30+ feet up, ending in a loud explosive "pop" or "chirp" produced by tail feathers at the bottom of the dive.
• Unlike most hummingbirds, males regularly sing a scratchy, buzzy, jumbled song from an exposed perch — listen for this year-round, since Anna's do not migrate far.
• Aggressively defends flowers and feeders; often the dominant hummingbird at West Coast feeding stations.

Separating from Similar Species

• Costa's Hummingbird: male has a violet-purple (not pink) gorget with elongated points sweeping down the sides like a mustache, and no colored crown; found in drier desert habitat.
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird: red throat only (no colored crown), mostly an eastern species with little range overlap.
• Broad-tailed / Rufous Hummingbird: males show orange-red gorgets and more rufous in the body/tail; females and immatures can be trickier but lack the crown color potential of Anna's.
• Female/immature Anna's are best told from similar female hummingbirds by overall larger, stockier size, grayer underparts, and any hint of pink throat spotting.

Habitat & Range

• Resident (non-migratory) along the Pacific Coast from Baja California north through California, Oregon, Washington, and into British Columbia; increasingly found inland and even wintering as far as the desert Southwest thanks to backyard feeders and ornamental plantings.
• Found in gardens, parks, chaparral, oak woodland, eucalyptus groves, and urban/suburban yards with flowers or feeders — one of the most feeder-friendly hummingbirds.
• Present and breeding earlier than most hummingbirds; nesting can start in midwinter in mild coastal areas.

Voice

• Song: a prolonged, scratchy, buzzy series of chips and squeaky notes delivered from a perch, unusual among hummingbirds.
• Call: a sharp, dry "chip" or "tick," often repeated.