by David Greer

Standing face to face with an Anna’s hummingbird hovering a foot or two from my nose, I felt a little mesmerized. Anna’s hummingbirds tend to have that effect on me. They’re otherworldly creatures, with a world of mystery packed into a body that weighs not much more than a paperclip. Hummingbirds are the only bird capable of both hovering and flying backwards, thanks in large part to a unique wingbeat pattern that has inspired the design of surveillance drones. The Anna’s male’s courtship dive surpasses 90 feet a second, though you’re more likely to hear it than see it. If you’re familiar with the alarm whistle of a Rocky Mountain marmot, you’ll know what to listen for. The male Anna’s iridescent head feathers flash like an amethyst when caught by the sun. And it’s absolutely fearless, sending birds many times its size packing when they threaten its territory.
Then there’s the fierce intelligence of the hummingbird. Corvids (crows, ravens, jays, magpies) and parrots are considered the smartest of the avians, but the hummingbird is no slouch either. With the largest brain-to-body ratio of any bird, its brain accounts for over 4% of its total body weight—more than twice the relative size of the human brain. The more science understands about the intelligence of birds, the clearer it becomes that “bird brain” is one of the most misused insults of all time.
What this bird wanted as she assessed me with her beady eyes wasn’t immediately clear. Hummingbirds are known to memorize the faces that keep their feeders topped up, and to issue in-your-face reminders when the supply falls short, but I didn’t have an active feeder installed. They are also known to memorize every bloom they have visited in recent days so as not to waste energy on a flower that has not yet had time to replenish its supply of nectar. Impressive, but not relevant to our encounter. Read more »