The Brilliant Iridescent Feathers of a Male Anna's Hummingbird

The unmistakable buzz of beating wings rushing in and high pitched song call attention to the tiny bird. But when it comes to watching hummingbirds, moments happen in the blink of an eye. A brilliant flash of magenta feathers appears and disappears just as quickly with a tilt the the head. One of my favorite things about photography is the ability to freeze a moment in time, revealing the smallest details, ordinarily impossible to see. I loved watching this bird in person, while it perched on the bare twig of a shrub, showing off his colors. But when I uploaded the photo to my computer I couldn’t stop staring at the detailed perfection of the feathers: tangerine, rust, hot pink and colors I can’t even name. The texture of each feather, layered on top the next, terminates in elegant rounded tips. These glittering feathers around the face and throat of the male Anna’s hummingbird, called the gorget, don’t get their colors from pigment. Instead the color comes from the way light refracts off tiny structures in the feathers. The colors help the males to attract potential mates.