Hummingbird (Broad-billed)

Broad-billed Hummingbird

(Cynanthuslatirostris)

Photographed at 

Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona   Apr 2010

A strikingly colourful bird, Is 4 inches (10 cm) in length; 3 g to 4¼ g in weight. In poor light the males appear dark with red bills and forked tails. In good light, the males head and breast are metallic blue or blue-green. The females are a duller grey-green, but retain the dark forked tail and have red only at the base of the lower mandible.

The Broad-billed Hummingbird reaches the northern limit of its range in south-eastern Arizona. Broad-billed Hummingbirds that nest in Arizona are migratory; populations in Mexico are resident year-round in their breeding range. In Arizona and Sonora, the broad-bill is found in the lower mountain canyons and in the mesquite bosques of the larger washes and rivers. Habitats also include the thorn forest and thornscrub of southern Sonora.

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. Its bill is also red unlike most that are black.

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