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Black-chinned Hummingbird

Archilochus alexandriOrder: APODIFORMESFamily: Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Black-chinned Hummingbird Portrait_2
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Black-chinned Hummingbird Variations

Black-chinned Hummingbird: Female
Default description
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Female
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Male
Default description
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Male

General

Black-chinned Hummingbird: Medium-sized hummingbird with metallic green upperparts and gray underparts with white breast and green-washed flanks. Head appears black overall with a white spot behind eye; cap is very dark green. Throat is iridescent violet; bill is long and slightly decurved. Forked tail is dark green with black outer tail feathers. Female has green upperparts, gray-green cap, white spot behind eye, dark-spotted pale gray throat, and green-washed pale gray underparts; tail is dark green with white corners. Immature resembles female; immature male may show violet on lower throat in the fall.

Range and Habitat

Black-chinned Hummingbird: Breeds from British Columbia south to Mexico and central Texas. Spends winters in Mexico. Preferred habitats include mountain and alpine meadows, woodlands, canyons with thickets, chaparral, and orchards.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"teew-teew-twee", " tchew-tchew-twhew"

Interesting Facts

  • In cold weather, a Black-chinned Hummingbird may ingest three times its body weight in nectar in one day.
  • Their nest can expand as nestlings grow. The spider and insect silk holding it together stretches and allows the nest to grow along with the growing chicks.
  • A group of hummingbirds has many collective nouns, including a “bouquet", "glittering", "hover", "shimmer", and "tune” of hummingbirds.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Black-chinned Hummingbird
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Archilochus alexandri
Length3.5 - 3.75 Inches
Wingspan4.5 Inches

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird: Medium hummingbird with metallic green upperparts, gray underparts, white breast, green-washed flanks. Head appears black overall with white spot behind eye; cap is very dark green. Throat is iridescent violet; bill is long and slightly decurved. Forked tail is dark green with black outer tail feathers.

● Song: "teew-teew-twee", " tchew-tchew-twhew"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-chinned Hummingbird: Diet consists of nectar, pollen, insects, and sugar water from feeders; prefers nectar from flowers of tree tobacco, scarlet larkspur, and desert ocotillo.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-chinned Hummingbird: One to three white eggs are laid in a nest made of fluffy plant wool and lichens woven together with spider webs and built in a shrub or low tree. Incubation ranges from 13 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Black-chinned Hummingbird: Ruby-throated Hummingbird has red throat, shorter bill, greener crown, buff wash on sides, and a different voice. Costa's Hummingbird is smaller and has grayer upperparts and whiter underparts.

Flight Pattern

Swift strong direct flight., Can fly backward.
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Male
● Range & Habitat: Black-chinned Hummingbird: Breeds from British Columbia south to Mexico and central Texas. Spends winters in Mexico. Preferred habitats include mountain and alpine meadows, woodlands, canyons with thickets, chaparral, and orchards.
BreedingPolygamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.1 Ounces