How to Identify Anna's Hummingbird Feathers

What Anna's Hummingbird Feathers Look Like

Anna's Hummingbird is best known for the male's spectacular iridescent rose-pink to magenta gorget, which uniquely extends up over the crown of the head rather than staying confined to the throat as in most other hummingbirds. These specialized gorget feathers are flattened and scale-like; in direct light they flash brilliant pink-red, but at other angles they can look nearly black - a hallmark of iridescent structural color. The rest of the male's upperparts are emerald green, with grayish underparts. Females lack the extensive gorget but usually show a small cluster of red-to-magenta spots at the center of the throat against an otherwise pale gray throat. Tail feathers are dark green-black and slightly rounded in males, with small white tips visible on the outer tail feathers of females.

Step-by-Step: Is This Feather From an Anna's Hummingbird?

• Check where iridescent pink appears. If it comes from the crown/forehead as well as the throat, that strongly favors Anna's Hummingbird - most other US hummingbirds keep their iridescent color confined to the throat.
• Look at the color under different angles. True iridescent feathers shift from pink/magenta to black depending on the light angle; this is a structural rather than pigment-based color.
• Note back and body color. Solid emerald green upperparts with grayish underparts, no rufous or orange tones anywhere on body feathers.
• Check tail shape. Slightly rounded, dark, without prominent rufous edges.
• Consider season and location. Anna's is a year-round resident on the US Pacific coast and even breeds in winter, so feathers can be found any month, unlike migratory species that vanish seasonally.

Similar Species & How to Tell Them Apart

• Costa's Hummingbird: Gorget is violet-purple rather than rose-pink, and extends into elongated points trailing down the sides of the neck rather than up over the crown.
• Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Shares a green back, but the male's gorget is rose-red and confined strictly to the throat, without any crown coloring.
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird (eastern US, little range overlap): Gorget is a deeper red and, again, confined to the throat only.

Where & When You'll Find Them

Anna's Hummingbird is a year-round resident along the Pacific coast of the United States, from Baja California up through Washington, found in gardens, chaparral, eucalyptus groves, and increasingly in suburban yards with flowering plants and feeders. Unusually among North American hummingbirds, it often breeds in mid-winter (December-February) in mild coastal climates, and its main molt occurs in late summer. Because it does not migrate away for winter, feathers can be found at any time of year, but late-summer molt and the winter breeding season are especially productive times to check near feeders, flowering eucalyptus, and gooseberry shrubs.