Broad-billed Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird, male; Patagonia, AZ

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Broad-billed Hummingbird, female; Patagonia, AZ

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Other Names
4. Cool Facts
5. Full detailed species account

A strikingly colorful bird, the Broad-billed Hummingbird reaches the northern limit of its range in southeastern Arizona. Broad-billed Hummingbirds that nest in Arizona are migratory; populations in Mexico are resident year-round in their breeding range.

Description

Small hummingbird. Broad, notched tail. Long, red bill with dark tip. Green back. Male with blue throat and green chest. Female with white line over eye, dark ear-patch, and gray underparts.

• Size: 10 cm (4 in)
• Wingspan: 12 cm (5 in)
• Weight: 3-4 g (0.11-0.14 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male has blue throat and green belly; female has white throat and gray belly.

Sound

Call is a short "je-dit," resembling that of Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Male's song is a series of high sounds starting with a chip.

Other Names

Colibri circé (French)
Colibrí pico ancho, Colibrí latirostre (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• Like other hummingbirds, the Broad-billed Hummingbird probably consumes about 1.6 to 1.7 times its body weight in nectar each day.

• The male Broad-billed Hummingbird performs a courtship display, starting by hovering about a foot from the female and then flying in repeated arcs, like a pendulum.

• Like other hummingbirds, the Broad-billed Hummingbird is incapable of walking or hopping.

Sources used to construct this page:

Powers, D. R., and S. M. Wethington. 1999. Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris). In The Birds of North America, No. 430 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.