Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) by Ian

Just received an interesting article from the Birdwatching Magazine Newsletter. Research has been going on about how the Hummingbird produces sound by the way they spread their tail. The vibrations send out sounds that they use for courtship. “As a diving bird spreads its tail, the motion exposes the tail feathers to air, causing it to flutter like a flag in the breeze and generate sound. This so-called aerodynamic flutter can be hazardous to airplanes, but in hummingbirds it produces a species-specific sound essential to courtship.”

To read the whole article, go to:

http://cs.birdwatchingdaily.com/BRDCS/blogs/field_of_view/archive/2011/09/08/Diving-hummingbirds-produce-species_2D00_specific-courtship-songs-_2D002D00_-with-their-tails.aspx

Hummingbirds are in the Trochilidae Family, which at present has 340 species. Their Order, the Apodiformes, has not only Hummers but also the Owlet-nightjars, Treeswifts, and regular Swift families.

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