Calliope Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird, adult male; central Montana; July

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Calliope Hummingbird, adult female; central Montana; July

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

The smallest bird in North America, the Calliope Hummingbird inhabits mountain areas of the northwestern United States. It is the smallest long-distance avian migrant in the world, spending its winters in Mexico.

Cool Facts

• The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest bird in North America. Its mass is about one-third that of the smallest North American warblers.

Description

• Size: 9 cm (4 in)
• Wingspan: 11 cm (4 in)
• Weight: 2-3 g (0.07-0.11 ounces)

Tiny hummingbird. Green upperparts. Male has throat streaked red and white. Female has dull whitish throat and whitish or cinnamon-buff chest and belly.

Sex Differences

Male has red streaks on throat; female has whitish throat with few nor no colored feathers.

Immature

Resembles adult female. In the hand, can be distinguished from adult female by the presence of ridges along the upper mandible.

Similar Species

• Female and immature Rufous and Allen's hummingbirds have similar plumages, but are larger, with more distinct and contrasting rufous markings on tail and flanks, and longer central tail feathers.

Sound

Typical hummingbird twittering and bickering.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Summer Range

Breeds in mountains from British Columbia through Washington, Idaho, Montana and western Wyoming, southward through Nevada and California to Baja California.

Winter Range

Winters in southern and western Mexico.

Habitat

Open montane forest, mountain meadows, and willow and alder thickets, in migration and winter also in chaparral, lowland brushy areas, deserts and semi-desert regions.

Reproduction

Clutch Size

Conservation Status

No immediate conservation concern has been documented.

Other Names

Colibri calliope (French)
Chupamirto rafaguitas, Colibrí gorgirrayado (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Calder, W. A., and L. L. Calder. 1994. Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope). In The Birds of North America, No. 135 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists? Union.