Was the flower designed for the bird or the bird designed for the flower? Lesson, a French naturalist, named the hummingbird in the collection after Anna. One of these unidentified birds was a tiny hummingbird from Baja California. The Prince kept a collection of stuffed birds, including many thus far unidentified birds. Anna d’Essling is the one in the pink dress. The Empress Eugenie (with the purple bow), surrounded by her ladies in waiting, by Franz Winterhalter (1855). So, who is the Anna after whom this vibrant little bird was named? Part of French society in the 1800s, Anna of Belle Massena, Duchess of Rivoli, Princess of Essling was the wife of Prince François Messena, a nobleman with a keen interest in birds and a friend of John James Audubon. They can now be found as far north as the southern end of British Columbia. As humans developed a taste for exotic plant species in our parks and gardens, Anna’s hummingbird spread north following the gardening trend. 100 years ago, this common hummer of the West Coast lived only in northern Baja California and southern part of California.
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A full grown adult bird does not exceed 10 cm (4 inches) in length and the lightning fast wings span only 12 cm (4.7 inches). Perhaps they are part of the same thing but sometimes separated by air.Īnna’s Hummingbird, like all hummers, is as small as it is beautiful. It isn’t at all clear whether the flower was designed for the bird or the bird for the flower. The vivid colours, the vibratory hum of the wings, the scent of the oozing flowers that are almost an extension of the bird itself.
Perhaps the attraction of these birds is how they stimulate our senses. This is my way of remembering extraordinary speed and energy as well as the hum as the bird zips from flower to flower.
I set my shutter speed as low as I could as I wanted to capture the blurred wingbeat. A young male gave me a glimpse of a pink throat as it zipped between tiny lilac heads of sage. I snapped a few females and young males, but I wasn’t getting any closer to capturing the pink blaze. As I walked on I was seeing hummingbirds everywhere. I got a couple of nice shots of malignant males on their perch, guarding their territory like minuscule iridescent rottweilers with wings. I walked the paths of the drizzly Gardens, firing off some shots as an occasional hummer buzzed into range. With a rain jacket, hat and a lot of patience, I was able to find and photograph a few fine specimens. It was the molting season, so some of the birds were not at their very best, but still offered a stunning spectacle. In previous visits to the Gardens the constantly angry Anna’s was too high, too fast, too feisty or just not around. But on this day Anna’s hummingbird was out in abundance. This day was no different, as a misty rain was either falling or trying to fall all day. This means that I’m constantly battling with the camera to get a fast enough shutter speed to capture these glittering speedsters. It seems that every time I try to photograph hummers it is under grey skies and drizzle. Anna’s Hummingbird showing the black blaze Add a few droplets of sun and magic occurs. Without sunlight this hummingbird’s face has a black or charcoal grey appearance. The bird is beautiful at all times, but the blaze, that only shows when struck by sunlight at the perfect angle, takes it to a new level. It was a breathtaking sight and a moment of beauty that I wanted to capture in a photograph. I remember the moment that a little moss green bird transformed itself in front of my eyes, with a split-second flash of metallic pink blaze. Anna’s Hummingbird was the first hummer that I saw when I came to the United States. Why? To try for a photograph of the dazzling Anna’s Hummingbird, of course. I was back in California, and once again found myself in the San Francisco Botanic Gardens. In a second it was over, and the victor returned to his throne to scrutinize his kingdom in preparation for the next skirmish. A shrill battle cry sounded from the whirl of wings, beaks and tiny claws. A high voltage buzz crackled through the air as two diminutive fays sizzled on the wing, like demented dragons, just a few inches above my head.
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