This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we talk about the two main hummingbird species seen in Santa Cruz: Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds. Learn how to attract them to your backyard, and how to tell them apart. Hummingbirds are incredible at flying and are the only birds in the world that can fly backward. They beat their wings incredibly quickly to hover and fly in any direction, around 60 times per second.
Feel free to ask me any of your bird questions. Find me on twitter @gcsparrow.
If you are interested in learning more about birds, allaboutbirds.org is a great resource.
Listen live on KSQD 90.7 the week of August 3 2020: Tuesday 7:53 am & Saturday 11:54 am.
The headline photo is an Allen’s hummingbird seen in the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. Photo by Theadora Block.
Pictured below, a male Anna’s hummingbird – see how the sunlight reflects off the colorful throat. The feathers here are called a ‘gorget’. Photo by Theadora Block.
A female Anna’s hummingbird seen at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. Photo by Theadora Block.
