Man, this Costa’s hummingbird legitimately looks like it has a shiny purple baby octopus attached to its face like the facehugger in Alien. I mean, look at how wacky it looks, it almost seems as if the octopus was digitally slapped onto the face. But it’s not. It looks that way because male Costa’s hummingbirds have a beautiful purple cap of feathers that stretch over their head and onto their throat that flares out when they try to court females.
Basically, this is just a boy trying to impress a girl with a dazzling display of flying and feather flaring. It’s cute and totally funny to see because you’ll notice that his body is twisting and swaying around while his vibrant violet face never breaks eye contact with the female. The male hummingbird strategically angles itself in front of the sun so that its purple feathers can shimmer, but it probably doesn’t realise it looks like there’s a dang octopus on his head.
Plus, watching this courtship display is also great because the female hummingbird never reacts to the silly boy bird until she flies away.
Here’s what a male Costa’s hummingbird looks like when its feathers aren’t splayed out:
Photo credit: Alan D. Wilson – NaturesPicsOnline