Last year when I visited Madera Canyon, seeing and photographing the Magnificent Hummingbird was one of the highlights of my visit there. We called him Mr. Wonderful because he was so different from the other hummingbirds in size, coloring, and decibel level—the hum of his wings was unmistakable and incredibly loud. This species is a year-round resident of Mexico and Southern Arizona is its Northernmost breeding ground. This year, I got only a few shots of Mr. Wonderful as he proved very elusive to me. We also learned that the name of the Magnificent Hummingbird species was changed to Rivoli’s Hummingbird in 2017. The bird was known as the Magnificent Hummingbird from the 1980’s to 2017. I can’t find what it was called prior to the 1980s but according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Rivoli’s Hummingbird was named in honor of the Duke of Rivoli, an early 19th Century amateur ornithologist. Anna’s Hummingbird was named after his wife, Anna, the Duchess of Rivoli. And, to me, he’s still Mr. Wonderful.
