Quote:
Originally Posted by OjaiAnna
May I asked what or who is the Anna that is freeloading and buzzing you at the zoo? ...
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The hummingbird in the shot was the freeloading Anna's that buzzed me. Little guy swooped around, and then turned and hovered in front of me for a few seconds before zipping off on his merry way. If he hadn't stopped to hover, I'd've never gotten the shot.
The common name for
Calypte anna is "Anna's Hummingbird". "Freeloader" is a now-discouraged shorthand that the San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park keepers used to use for any of the local wildlife that took advantage of the copious free food, shade, and water that was in the exhibits. I don't work there, so I still use the term--affectionately, I hasten to add. I actually find the freeloaders more interesting than the exhibit animals. Every bird in this tree is a freeloader (the collection birds are pinioned so they can't get up there):
Mostly cattle egrets, snowy egrets, and greater egrets, and a few black-crowned night herons. An occasional greater blue heron will show up. I do some of my best wild bird photography at the WAP:
