Hummingbird display in Las Vegas NV – a mystery interaction

                I was coming back across the street from getting my mail. It was January 8, 2014 just after one in the afternoon, the sun was shining and the temperature was about 59 degrees. As I crossed the street I heard a loud, high pitched ‘plink’ followed by a zeezeezee sound. I have never heard that ‘plink’ before. It was so loud I couldn’t help wonder if it was a mockingbird.

                As I listened I decided loud or not it had to be a hummingbird because of the zeezeezee sound at the end. I could tell it was coming from my neighbor’s Fuji apple tree. When I got closer to the tree I spotted the bird. He was sitting on a bare branch at the west edge of the tree.

Anna's female at the feeder January 7, 2014

                I was wondering why he was ‘plinking’, after all that was, in my mind, associated with courting activities. Warm weather or not, it is still January in Las Vegas NV and the weather is still winter. It’s way too early for any courting to be going on.

                I noticed that there was a second hummingbird. This one was rapidly making almost pendulum swings in front of the sitting bird. Now it did appear as if it were a courting display, except for one problem. During a courting display the male makes the call as he swings by the female. The female sits there quietly watching the aerial antics of the male. In this case it was the sitting bird that was calling and the rapidly flying bird that was quiet.

                I stood there in front of my open garage watching and suddenly the sitting bird flew towards me. Well, I thought, this should prove interesting. He landed on a perch in my bare flowering plum sapling. He was only about six feet away from me at eye level. I could see it was a mature male.

                Then the second bird came up. He was moving so fast I could only assume it was a male. The perched male flew up into the air and the two birds performed a dance for me. They flew together, interacting but not seemingly fighting. Then they both flew away. I went in the house and grabbed my camera, but, of course, when I got outside they were both gone, not to return for their pictures.

                Now the question was: were they Anna’s hummingbirds or Costa’s hummingbirds, since both frequent my feeders. I leaned towards Anna’s because the zeezeezee sounded like the song that I hear every morning and afternoon when I walk my dogs. I have definitely identified this as the Anna’s song. I Since had never the ‘plink’ heard before I could only guess.

                Thank goodness for the internet and apps. I got my iPad and pulled up my Audubon Guide to Southwest Nature. There I went to ‘birds,’ then hummingbirds, then Anna’s. This app has recordings of both the Anna’s song and the male’s call.

                When I played the 12 second recording I knew. My bird was definitely an Anna’s male hummingbird. Why he was calling, what the second male was trying to accomplish by displaying and what they were doing dancing together remains a mystery. Maybe they were practicing for their spring rites. After all, in January we all start thinking about spring in Las Vegas NV. Isn’t it just around the corner?