Contacted by phone at the University of California at Riverside, Clark describes the mating ritual. “The bird dives toward the sun so it will light up the iridescent feathers and the magenta patch on its throat. It looks like a magenta fireball getting larger and larger and then finally exploding. All the light is reflected in the direction of the female.” Typically, the male repeats the dive 10 to 15 times, but Clark filmed one randy male who executed 77 dives in a span of 15 minutes with only one short rest in the middle.