West Coast Coppers
Plant flowers and use multiple feeders to attract Allen’s hummingbirds.
The second smallest hummingbirds after the Calliopes, Allen’s hummingbirds begin their spring migration early. Moving north in Mexico by December, they reach coastal California and southern Oregon around January or February.
“If an Allen’s hummingbird really likes your yard, it will come back year after year. They are very site-specific,” says Barbara Monahan, whose property in Santa Cruz, California, was a banding site for 3,000 hummingbirds for the nonprofit Hummingbird Monitoring Network.
Named for Charles Andrew Allen, a California taxidermist, the bird was first classified in 1877. Allen’s hummingbirds are about 3 inches long, and slightly smaller than Anna’s hummingbirds found in the same gardens. Allen’s are similar to rufous hummers, but that species nests farther north. Allen’s have lots of copper plumage, green backs and shimmering red to gold-orange throats.
To attract these fliers, Barbara includes Grevillea lanigera, also called woolly grevillea, among her hummingbird-friendly plants. “The Allen’s bills are smaller, so the flowers can’t be too long. They can’t dig into a long trumpet vine,” she says.
The usual hummingbird tricks draw in these birds, too. Set out a sugar-water feeder and a source of running water to see more of them. Barbara emphasizes having a few feeders in different locations because males are extremely territorial. These feisty winged Napoleons will chase away a hawk if it flies close to a favored food source or prospective mate.
To court females, males dive at a high speed while making a buzzing sound with their wing feathers or a shriek with their pointed tail feathers, then fly side to side. Males mate with multiple females, then a female builds her nest from plant fibers, lichens, moss, spider silk and animal hair. The nest stretches as her one or two chicks hatch and grow. She continues to feed them another week or two after they fledge.
Barbara places feeders in prime locations with sheltered perches nearby so these high-energy fliers can rest after feeding. She also sets out chunks of fruit to attract gnats, a dietary staple for hummingbirds. Allen’s also pluck bugs and spiders off spiderwebs, so “don’t be too aggressive cleaning your eaves,” Barbara says.
She also recommends a water dish that’s about 1 to 2 inches deep, is 12 to 20 inches wide, and has a constant drip source and a flat rock in it for an easy out.
“Allen’s will skitter along the top of the water. Think water skiing!” says Barbara, who also sets up a mister during the summer. “Other birds like it, too.”