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Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) is the only overwintering hummingbird in Santa Cruz. It is also the most common hummingbird on the West Coast and is relative to other hummingbird medium sized (10 cm, ~4 g). Hummingbirds have one of the highest metabolic rates among vertebrates and their heart rate can reach 1260 beats per min (Lasiewski and Lasiewski, 1967)! To maintain this exceptional high metabolism hummingbirds primarily live off nectar. But they also feed on spiders and small insects to get proteins.

In the Arboretum located at UC Santa Cruz it is quite easy to get close to these birds when they suck nectar from Erica flowers. After a few visits to the garden watching their behavior I found out that once I sat still on the ground for a few minutes they would get within the shooting range of my camera. Beside the pictures displayed below, I have posted a gallery of hummingbirds here.

Last night I witnessed how people in Santa Cruz celebrated the historic election of an African-American as president of the United States. Thousands of people gathered in the streets, cheering, smiling and dancing after Barack Obama had held his speech in Chicago. It was very touching to watch.

Santa Cruz is among the most liberal counties in the US as 78 % of the voters cast their ballot for Obama. In the entire state of California 76 % of the 18-to-29-year-old supported him. In comparison only 36 % of young voters supported Obama in Alaska, my former state.

In spite of the enormous task ahead for Americans to make their country a place of equal opportunity, I find comfort and hope in the words that Obama spoke last night quoting from Lincoln: ‘Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.’ May this also be the opportunity to set a new path for taking better care of this planet.

The complete transcript of his speech can be found here.

I also took a video of downtown Santa Cruz yesterday.

Santa Cruz is a place that attracts a great number of tourists and visitors. The biggest attraction of the town is undoubtedly its great surf beaches. On Sunday, Birthe, Carsten and I counted more than 250 people surfing on the waves. The conditions were apparently perfect because the waves were rolling perpendicular to the shore. We also saw people playing drums and playing with hula-hoop rings. What a great atmosphere!

For the three of us the greatest attractions were all the winged creatures from the thousands of monarch butterflies to  pelicans and hummingbirds. We probably saw close to 100 hummingbirds in the arboretum. On the hills behind Santa Cruz there are impressive forests with redwood. Because everything was forested in the area some 100 years ago the trees haven’t reached their full size yet although some of them are already reaching 70-80 m above the ground.