ARCADIA — Despite Michigan’s harsh winter, a rare sighting of an Anna’s hummingbird in Arcadia has locals and bird experts buzzing with excitement.
Local resident Rick Jones spotted the bird, which is native to the West Coast, on his property.
Jones first noticed the hummingbird in late November, after leaving his feeder up past the usual season.
“I was getting ready to take down the feeder, but then I saw him there,” Jones told me. “The feeder started freezing, so every two hours I’d bring it in to thaw until I got a heated one.”
Concerned and intrigued, Jones contacted Brian Allen, the head of the local Audubon chapter and an experienced birder.
Allen paid a visit to Jones’s house and was surprised to discover that the bird was an Anna’s hummingbird — Calypte anna — the species’ first recorded sighting in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
“I saw the gorget was really wide and it was dark all the way down the front of the chest, so I knew it wasn’t a ruby-throated hummingbird,” Allen told me. “Then it turned, and I saw the red on the top and thought, ‘Whoa, it’s an Anna’s!’ “I was very surprised.”
On Wednesday, Allen Chartier, a hummingbird researcher from southeastern Michigan, drove several hours to Arcadia to capture and band the bird for research.
“There was an Anna’s hummingbird in Columbus, Ohio, that I banded in November, and it’s still there,” Chartier told me. “It was minus 5 (degrees) a couple of days ago.”
Chartier, known for his knowledge of hummingbirds, is a co-author of the American Birding Association’s “A Birder’s Guide to Michigan” and has been an authorized hummingbird bander since the Great Lakes Hummer Net research project began in 2000.
He determined that the hummingbird is an adult male weighing 4.02 grams and showing signs of good health, including fat reserves.
“He has a little bit of fat on him—that’s important,” Chartier said.
He noted the bird’s alertness, saying, “His eyes are wide open. He’s probably annoyed rather than scared.”
Anna’s hummingbirds are commonly found along the Pacific coast, from California to British Columbia. Their presence in Michigan is extremely unusual, particularly during the winter.
According to Chartier, these birds’ range has expanded northward into Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in recent decades.
“They’re breeding in the Panhandle of Alaska now,” he informed me. “When they were in California, they would move southeast to Arizona and Mexico. When they arrive in Alaska, the vector of migration directs them to the Great Lakes.
Jones has been diligent in caring for the hummingbird, installing a heated feeder and keeping track of its visits.
“Every day when he doesn’t show up when I think he should, I think, ‘Oh, he’s either frozen or he’s gone,'” Jones told me. “I enjoy having him around.”
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, these hummingbirds are more cold-hardy than other species, surviving temperatures below freezing by entering a state known as torpor, in which they slow their metabolic rate to conserve energy.
“They also winter in the Sierra Nevada mountains,” Chartier explained. “They are not limited to the coast of California. They are also larger than rufous and ruby-throats, which means they have more body mass. So it takes them longer to become cold.”
The hummingbird has sparked enthusiasm in the birding community. About six bird enthusiasts from across the state came together to witness the event, braving the cold to photograph and observe the rare visitor.
“You really started something here,” Jones told Allen, referring to the influx of birders eager to see the hummingbird.
The local Audubon Society requests that any additional sightings be reported via email to [email protected]. Bird enthusiasts are reminded to respect private property and avoid disturbing the hummingbird.