Indiana's first Anna's Hummingbird, a female, was found in 2010 at a private residence where birders could not visit. On the afternoon of November 2, 2020, I was contacted by a homeowner in Lake County, Indiana about a hummingbird they had at their feeders since October 31. One of their photos is below. It was pretty clear to me that it was an immature (hatch-year) male Anna's Hummingbird. The homeowners contacted a local birder (I live in Michigan) who managed some additional photos before it got dark, and he agreed that it was an Anna's Hummingbird. These generous people then opened up their back yard to visiting birders.
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| Immature male Anna's Hummingbird |
I was also contacted by Don Gorney about the possibility of banding this bird, as I have done with many other rare hummingbirds in Indiana. Discussions about this with the homeowners were brief, as they had attended a hummingbird banding program that I do annually at the Indiana Dunes State Park every August. So I scheduled the banding for a Friday, November 6, when there might not be too many people around (for COVID compliance). When I arrived at 8:30, the bird had just made a brief appearance at 8:20. It returned at about 8:55, and it lingered for about 10 minutes, checking out each of the 4 feeders that were available in the back yard. I did not take any photos of the bird at this time, but Amy Hodson has generously given me permission to include one of her photos here.
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| Immature male Anna's Hummingbird, photo by Amy Hodson |
I set up my trap at 9:15 and waited for about 45 minutes before the bird reappeared, and immediately went in and was captured. Amy Dodson's photo below shows me examining the bird's bill with a 10x magnifier to determine the extent of tiny grooves on the bill that are the main way to determine a hummingbird's age in-hand.
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| Allen Chartier examining Anna's Hummingbird's bill. |
All plumage characteristics confirmed that this bird was indeed a hatch-year male Anna's Hummingbird, in fairly advanced molt with a lot of iridescent gorget feathers and an adult-type tail.
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| Hatch-year male Anna's Hummingbird |
The hind-crown and cheek had a few blue-purple feathers mixed in with the mostly rose-red ones on the throat and crown. This is not considered a sign of the bird being a hybrid (in this case most likely with Costa's), as hybrids typically have all gorget feathers intermediate in color, not mixed with two colors.
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| Hatch-year male Anna's Hummingbird |
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| Hatch-year male Anna's Hummingbird |
The shape of the tail feathers, particularly the outers, was completely consistent with Anna's Hummingbird.
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| Hatch-year male Anna's Hummingbird |
All measurements that were taken were consistent with male Anna's, and were outside the range for Costa's or hybrids with Costa's. Anyone wishing to read more details about these measurements and the process for eliminating other species and hybrids can download a PDF of my report to the Indiana Bird Records Committee by clicking here.
