Allen's Hummingbird

Selasphorus sasin

Order APODIFORMES - Family TROCHILIDAE - Subfamily Trochilinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

Extremely similar in appearance to the widespread Rufous Hummingbird, the Allen's Hummingbird breeds only along a narrow strip of coastal California and southern Oregon.

Cool Facts

• Breeding male and female Allen's Hummingbirds have different habitat preferences. The male sets up a territory overseeing open areas of coastal scrub vegetation or riparian shrubs, where he often perches conspicuously on exposed leafless branches. The female selects nest sites in more densely vegetated areas and forests.
• Two subspecies of Allen's Hummingbirds are recognized. They differ only slightly in appearance, but sedentarius of very southern California is nonmigratory, and the more northerly breeding, slightly smaller sasin spends the winter in Mexico.

• The Allen's Hummingbird is remarkably early migrant compared with most North American birds. Northbound birds may depart on ?spring? migration as early as December and arrive on the ?summer? breeding grounds as early as January. Adult males may begin their southward ?fall? migration in mid-May and arrive on ?winter? grounds as early as August.

Description

• Size: 9 cm (4 in)
• Wingspan: 11 cm (4 in)
• Weight: 2-4 g (0.07-0.14 ounces)

• Tiny bird, small and compact hummingbird.
• Extensive rusty in most plumages.
• Male with iridescent red throat and shiny green back.

• Tail projects slightly beyond wingtips when perched.
• Extensive rufous in tail.
• Bill black, straight, and moderately long.
• Outer tail feather extremely narrow.

Sex Differences

Male with red throat; female throat white with a few red feathers. Male extensively orange on body and head, female with green back and head. Male's tail orange with pointed black tips, female's tail orange, green, and black with rounded white tips.

Male

Gorget (throat) iridescent scarlet. Gorget with elongated feathers projecting slightly to the sides. Top of head and back dull metallic bronze or bronze-green. Sides of face, sides of chest, and flanks plain cinnamon-rufous. Tail feathers pointed, and colored orange with dark tips. Outermost tail feather very narrow. Wings dusky. Chest white. Belly and undertail coverts buffy. White spot behind black eye. Legs and feet dusky. Occasional individuals have orange in rump.

Female

Chin, throat, and chest dull white. Center of throat with variably sized patch of red feathers. Sides and flanks cinnamon-rufous. Back metallic bronze-green, head slightly duller. Wings dusky. Outermost three pairs of tail feathers orange at bases, black in the middle, and white on the tips. Middle pair of tail feathers bronze-green, dusky at tips, with orange edges to green base. Next pair out with rufous base, then bronze-green, and black tips. Undertail coverts pale cinnamon.

Immature

Immature similar to adult female, but has less spotting on throat and less rufous on flanks; male more rusty in the base of the tail.

Similar Species

• Rufous Hummingbird is very similar; females and immature birds nearly indistinguishable in the field. Male Rufous Hummingbird has an orange back and rump. Beware the rare Rufous Hummingbird male with a green back; if it has any completely rufous feathers, not rufous-edged, on the back, it is a Rufous Hummingbird. The outermost tail feather, difficult to see in the field, is broad in all plumages of Rufous Hummingbird.
• Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird and Calliope Hummingbird have buffy sides and rufous in the tail. Calliope is pale buffy on the sides, has little rufous in the tail, and has a very short tail, about the same length as the wings when perched. Broad-tailed has paler buffy sides, has little rufous in the tail, and lacks the central red spot on the throat.

Sound

Does not sing. Calls buzzy; also sharp chips. Wings of adult male make a high, buzzy trill.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds along Pacific Coast from southern Oregon to southern California.

Winter Range

Winters in southern Mexico. Occasional vagrant to eastern United States.

Habitat

Breeds in moist coastal areas, scrub, chaparral, and forests. Winters in forest edge and scrub clearings with flowers.

Food

Flower nectar, small insects, and tree sap. Comes to hummingbird feeders.

Behavior

Foraging

Hovers at flowers and sap wells, catches insects in flight and plucks them from leaves.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of plant down with an outer layer of grass or leaves, covered on outside with lichens, moss, or pieces of bark held on with spider web. Placed in shrub or on small twig or branch of tree.

Egg Description

White.

Clutch Size

2 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless, with black skin and some down on back.

Conservation Status

Populations may be declining.

Other Names

Colibri d'Allen (French)
Chuparmirto petirrojo, Zumbador de Allen (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Mitchell, D. E. 2000. Allen?s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin). In The Birds of North America, No. 501 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.