Hollywood isn't just about the Botox and the bright lights of Sunset Boulevard. Honestly, if you look up from your phone while walking through a canyon trail in the Hollywood Hills, you'll see something way more impressive than a B-list celebrity. You’ll see a blur of iridescent green and a sound like a tiny weed-whacker. These are the nature hummingbirds of hollywood, and they basically own the place. While tourists are busy staring at the Walk of Fame, these birds are busy defending their territory with a level of aggression that would make a studio executive blush.
People think of hummingbirds as these delicate, ethereal fairies. Wrong. They’re actually tiny gladiators with the metabolism of a fighter jet. In the specific ecosystem of the Santa Monica Mountains and the lush, irrigated gardens of West Hollywood, they’ve found a weird sort of paradise. It’s a mix of wild sagebrush and expensive, imported hibiscus.
The Species You’ll Actually See Around Town
It’s not just one type of bird. In Los Angeles, and specifically around the Hollywood area, you're mostly looking at two main characters: the Anna’s Hummingbird and the Black-chinned Hummingbird.
The Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) is the local legend. They don't migrate. While other birds are packing up for Mexico, the Anna’s just sticks around, enjoying the year-round blooms provided by LA’s obsessed gardeners. You can recognize the males by that stunning rose-pink gorget—that’s the throat patch—which looks like it's glowing if the light hits it just right. They’re chunky for hummingbirds. They have a metallic green back that looks like a high-end paint job on a Tesla.
Then there’s the Black-chinned (Archilochus alexandri). These guys are more the "summer blockbuster" types. They show up in the spring and head out by late summer. If you see a bird with a throat that looks pitch black but suddenly flashes a thin strip of electric purple at the bottom, that’s your guy. They love the canyons. If you're hiking Runyon Canyon or Griffith Park, keep an eye on the tops of dead branches. They love to sit up there and survey their kingdom.
There are others too, like the Allen’s Hummingbird. They look sort of rusty-orange. They used to be more common on the Channel Islands, but they’ve basically Gentrified the mainland over the last few decades. You'll find them all over the backyard feeders in the Hollywood Dell.
Why Hollywood is a Hummingbird Mecca
You’ve got to understand the geography. Hollywood is tucked right against the base of the mountains. This creates a "microclimate" situation. You have the dry, scrubby chaparral of the hills meeting the heavily watered, flower-rich estates of the residential neighborhoods. To a hummingbird, a neighborhood like Los Feliz or the Bird Streets is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet that never closes.
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The nature hummingbirds of hollywood have adapted to urban life better than almost any other bird. They don't mind the noise. They don't mind the smog—well, they probably don't like it, but it doesn't stop them. They’ve learned that humans provide two things they love: sugar water and exotic flowers.
- Fuchsia
- Bird of Paradise
- Cape Honeysuckle
- Salvias (The holy grail for them)
The Cape Honeysuckle is everywhere in LA. It’s that orange, tubular flower you see draped over fences in every alleyway. It’s not native, but hummingbirds treat it like a 24-hour diner. Because Hollywood residents love their landscaping, there’s always something blooming, even in January. This constant food supply is why the Anna’s Hummingbird population has actually expanded its range over the last century. We built a city, and they just saw it as a massive garden.
The Brutal Reality of Their "Cute" Behavior
If you’ve ever sat on a patio in Hollywood and heard a sharp tzip-tzip-tzip followed by a high-speed chase, you’ve witnessed a turf war. Hummingbirds are insanely territorial. A male Anna’s Hummingbird will guard a single feeder or a patch of flowers with his life. He’ll dive-bomb intruders, including birds three times his size.
I’ve seen them go after hawks. Seriously.
The "dive display" is one of the coolest things you can see in the hills. A male will fly up about 100 feet in the air and then plummet toward the ground at top speed. Right at the bottom of the arc, he pulls up, and his tail feathers make this loud, metallic "pop" sound. It’s a flex. He’s telling the ladies he’s strong and telling the other males to get lost. In the quiet pockets of the Hollywood Hills, you can hear those pops all afternoon.
Finding Them: It’s Not Just About Feeders
If you want to see the nature hummingbirds of hollywood in a more "natural" setting, you have to hit the trails. But don't just look at the flowers. Look at the water.
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Hummingbirds love a good bath. Because they eat so much nectar (which is sticky), they need to wash their feathers constantly to stay aerodynamic. In places like Fern Dell in Griffith Park, you can catch them hovering in the spray of the small waterfalls or cleaning themselves on wet leaves. It’s a side of them most people miss because they're too busy looking at the Hollywood Sign.
Another spot is the Wattles Mansion gardens. It’s this weirdly peaceful historic estate right off Franklin Avenue. The gardens are often less crowded than the big parks, and the old-growth trees provide perfect nesting spots.
What’s Killing Them (and How to Help)
It's not all sunshine and nectar. Being a bird in a city of millions is tough. The biggest threat? Windows. Reflection is a killer. Hummingbirds fly so fast—up to 30 or 40 miles per hour—that hitting a glass pane is usually instant lights out. If you live in the area, putting stickers or UV-reflective tape on your windows can literally save dozens of lives a year.
Then there’s the "dirty feeder" problem.
If you put out a feeder in Hollywood, you have a responsibility. The heat in SoCal makes sugar water ferment fast. It turns into a cloudy, moldy mess that can give birds a fatal tongue infection. If the water looks cloudy, it's already too late. You gotta clean those things every couple of days with hot water and vinegar. No soap. No red dye. The red dye they sell in stores is actually garbage for them; they don't need it, and it can be toxic. Just plain white sugar and water. One part sugar, four parts water. That’s it.
The Seasonal Rhythm
Even though many stay year-round, there is a pulse to the hummingbird activity in Hollywood.
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In the early spring—around February and March—the breeding season kicks into high gear. This is when the hills are loudest. You'll see the females gathering spider webs. Yeah, spider webs. They use the silk to bind their nests together because it makes the nest stretchy. As the babies grow, the nest expands like a little balloon. It’s an engineering marvel found right in the bushes outside a Starbucks.
By mid-summer, the Rufous hummingbirds might pass through. These are the "orange" ones that are notorious for being the biggest jerks in the bird world. They’re migratory, traveling from as far as Alaska down to Mexico. They use Hollywood as a pit stop. Even though they’re smaller than the local Anna’s, they will kick every other bird off a feeder just because they can. They’re the tourists who come to town and act like they own the place.
How to Turn Your Balcony Into a Sanctuary
You don't need a mansion in Bel Air to support the nature hummingbirds of hollywood. Even a small balcony in an apartment building can become a pit stop.
The trick is "verticality." Hummingbirds like to have a high perch where they can see predators (and rivals). If you put out a feeder, try to have a small potted shrub or even a decorative branch nearby where they can sit and digest. They spend about 80% of their time just sitting on branches, looking around.
Planting native California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum) is the best move you can make. It’s drought-tolerant—which is great for LA—and it has these bright red, tubular flowers that hummingbirds evolved specifically to drink from. It’s like putting up a neon "Eat Here" sign.
Actionable Steps for Hollywood Birders
If you're serious about seeing or helping these birds, here is exactly what to do:
- Skip the Red Dye: Only use a 4:1 ratio of water to white cane sugar. Never use honey, brown sugar, or stevia. It will kill them.
- Plant Native: If you have even a tiny dirt patch, plant White Sage or Heartleaf Penstemon. These are the natural food sources that the nature hummingbirds of hollywood relied on long before humans showed up.
- Clean Your Feeders: In the LA heat, clean the feeder every 2-3 days. If it's over 90 degrees, clean it every day.
- Keep Cats Indoors: This is a big one. Outdoor cats are the leading cause of bird deaths in urban areas. Hummingbirds are fast, but they have to rest eventually.
- Use Citizen Science: Download the Merlin Bird ID app or use iNaturalist. When you spot a rare visitor like a Calliope Hummingbird (the smallest bird in the US), logging it helps researchers track how climate change is shifting their migration patterns through the Hollywood corridor.
The presence of these birds is a reminder that Hollywood is more than just a concrete jungle. It's a living, breathing ecosystem where some of the most high-energy creatures on the planet are fighting to survive right alongside us. They’re the original Hollywood locals, and they’re way more interesting than any celebrity sighting. Look for the glint of green in the hibiscus bushes; it’s usually there if you’re quiet enough to notice.