Breeding Location:
Mountains, Streams, upland
Breeding Type:
Solitary nester, Promiscuous
Breeding Population:
Common in range during summer
Egg Color:
White
Number of Eggs:
2
Incubation Days:
14 - 17
Egg Incubator:
Female
Nest Material:
Plant down and spider's silk.
Migration:
Migratory
Recommended Products:
Overview
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Medium hummingbird with green upperparts and flanks, iridescent red throat, and gray underparts. Dark green tail may show some rufous. Black bill is long and straight. Black legs, feet. Feeds on nectar, spiders, sap and insects. Direct and hovering flight with very rapid wing beats.
Range and Habitat
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Breeds in the mountains from eastern California and northern Wyoming through the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain states to southern Arizona and western Texas. Spends winters in Mexico. Preferred habitats include mountain meadows, pinyon-juniper woodlands, dry ponderosa pines, fir or mixed forests, and canyon vegetation.
Breeding and Nesting
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Two white eggs are laid in a woven cup nest made of lichens and plant down. Incubation ranges from 14 to 17 days and is carried out by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Feeds on floral nectar and small insects. Dominated by other hummingbirds on wintering grounds and often forced to forage on less preferred flowers.
Readily Eats
Sugar Water, Commercial instant nectars
Vocalization
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Call is a sharp "chick."
Similar Species
Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird has deeper red throat and black mask. Female has white stripe behind eye, as opposed to brown stripe of female Rufous and Allen's hummingbirds.
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