Black-chinned Hummingbird

 

The Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) is a small hummingbird.

Adults are metallic green above and white below with green flanks. Their bill is long, straight and very slender. The adult male Black-chinned Hummingbird has a black face and chin, a glossy purple throat band and a dark forked tail. The female has a dark rounded tail with white tips and no throat patch; they are similar to female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

The breeding habitat of the Black-chinned Hummingbird is open semi-arid areas near water in the western United States, northern Mexico and southern British Columbia. The female builds a well-camouflaged nest in a protected location in a shrub or tree using plant fiber, spider webs and lichens.

The Black-chinned Hummingbird is migratory and most winter in Mexico.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing. While collecting nectar, they also assist in plant pollination.

Because of their small size, they are vulnerable to insect-eating birds and animals. This bird is fairly common in its breeding range.

 

picture of Black-chinned Hummingbird  Conservation status:Least concern
picture of  Black-chinned Hummingbird

Male Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Trochiliformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Archilochus
Species: A. alexandri
Binomial name 

Archilochus alexandri
(Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846)

 

Black-chinned hummingbird  female feeding her young in Summer of 2003. Nest 7 feet up in Mountain Ash (note berries in background). Location is 2 miles upstream from Chattaroy, WA in the Little Spokane River Valley.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

 



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