Before Christmas I requested information regarding the presence of Anna's hummingbirds on the Sunshine Coast. I was overwhelmed by the response and I wish to thank everyone who contacted me with their records.
Following is a short history of the species on the west coast of North America.
Until the 1930s the species was basically Californian in distribution with a close association to desert ecosystems. During the '30s and '40s the species gradually spread northward along the coast to Washington State and may have been first recorded in Victoria in 1944, but was not definitively identified there until 1958.
The first record for the mainland was in West Vancouver in 1959. During the 1960s there were only about 12 records for the entire province, an indication of its rarity at this time. Then, during the 1970s sightings increased dramatically. The initial impetus for this northward range expansion was the increasing availability of wintering flowers such as jasmine and fuschia, but eventually the provision of hummingbird feeders was the prime motivation.
The first record of Anna's hummingbird on the Sunshine Coast was on Dec. 14, 1972 when I was amazed to see a bird hovering at my window on one of the Trail Islands off Sechelt.
It was years later in 1979 that I learned that Mrs. Irene Carson, who lived on the waterfront in West Sechelt, just across from the Trail Islands, had attracted wintering Anna's hummingbirds to her feeders for many years, and obviously this was the source of the birds that I had seen. So, it is not exactly clear when the first birds may have arrived on the Sunshine Coast, but possibly around 1970.
During the 1980s very few birds were present in our area. Carson had five birds at her feeder in the winter of 1982/83, and in December 1984 there were five birds at two locations in lower Gibsons.
Since then numbers increased slowly in the '80s and '90s, mainly in the urban areas of Gibsons and Sechelt, as the practice of leaving hummingbird feeders out through the winter became more prevalent. Recently, the Anna's have responded in droves to this ready source of food and just in the last few years they have become quite abundant in urban and suburban areas where there are many feeders and exotic garden flowers.
My request for information on this little gem produced a definitive count of more than 250 birds on the Sunshine Coast this winter, an amazing colonisation of our area in the last 40 years.
Another shocking fact about Anna's hummingbirds is that they are early breeders and they may be sitting on eggs by late February.
I will be happy to hear of any nest records.
To report your sightings or records contact [email protected] or call 604-885-5539.
