donnam@thor.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Donna Mitchell) (05/06/89)
I have lot of hummingbirds right now. There are several different kinds. Some are Black throated. I hope I got the name right, I looked it up and now can't 100% remember. They have what looks like a black head, but shines a bluish-purple. Anyway, the question: One of these hummers makes a strange noise and flies in a horizontal figure eight. The figure eight is about 2 feet wide and a couple of inches height. What is he doing? Is is some new mating flight? I have never seen this before, and it seems only one is doing it. It lasts for about a minute, maybe less. I've seen him do it near the feeders (and near other hummers) and out by himself. He doesn't do it often, once a day probably. I'm always surprised to see him, that it is hard to really analyze it. Any ideas out there? Donna donnam@palomar.SanDiego.NCR.COM
mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) (05/09/89)
In article <1345@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM>, donnam@thor.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Donna Mitchell) writes: > > I have lot of hummingbirds right now. There are several different > kinds. Some are Black throated. I hope I got the name right, I looked > it up and now can't 100% remember. They have what looks like a black > head, but shines a bluish-purple. Anyway, the question: > > One of these hummers makes a strange noise and flies in a horizontal > figure eight. The figure eight is about 2 feet wide and a couple of > inches height. What is he doing? Is is some new mating flight? I > have never seen this before, and it seems only one is doing it. It > lasts for about a minute, maybe less. I've seen him do it near the > feeders (and near other hummers) and out by himself. He doesn't do > it often, once a day probably. I'm always surprised to see him, that > it is hard to really analyze it. This is most probably the courtship display flight of the Black- Chinned Hummingbird. The following is from Bent's "Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds and their Allies". "The shuttling of the Black-Chinned Hummingbird, which follows a path like a narrow figure 8 lying on one side, has often been mentioned in accounts of the species." Mike