 |
| Typical hummingbirds in our area include Black-chinned and Ruby-throated. |
Known for their diminutive size, long thin bills, and amazing agility in flight, hummingbirds are in the order Apodiformes, meaning ‘unfooted birds’, as they have characteristically tiny feet and are unable to walk on the ground. They are in the avian family Trochilidae, often described as a group of more than 300 species of small, often brilliantly colored hummingbirds.
 |
| The male Broad-billed Hummingbird at our back porch feeder. |
Most of the Broad-bill’s range lies in Mexico, but it normally spends the breeding season in the mountains of extreme southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico, where it prefers semi-shaded stream canyons and riparian areas with sycamores, cottonwoods, and willows. They are short-distance migrants, and their winter range is typically entirely within Mexico. Very few remain in the U.S. in winter, usually very near the Mexican Border, so to find one in Central Texas is a rare treat!
 |
| The brilliantly beautiful male Broad-billed Hummingbird! |
Broad-bills are a rather small hummingbird with a long, straight bill and a center tail notch. The male’s vivid red bill, rich emerald green body, and glittering sapphire blue throat (also called a gorget) is unmistakable! Females are golden-green above and pale gray below, with a white line behind the eye. When courting the female, the male hovers about a foot from the female and makes a flight display that is likened to a precise swing of a hypnotist’s pocket watch.
 |
| The male Broad-billed Hummingbird perches in our Escarpment Black Cherry in between trips to the feeder. |
The female typically chooses a nest site about three feet off the ground in a downward-hanging tree branch or shrub. They weave 1-inch tall, 0.75-inch wide cups of bark strips, grasses, and leaves held together with spider silk that appear similar to clumps of vegetation deposited in branches during periods of high water, offering them a degree of natural camouflage. After laying a clutch of 2 to 3 white eggs, the female incubates them and raises the young alone.
In the warmer months these hummers visit flower gardens but rely on sugar water feeders in winter when blooms are not readily available. They consume more than 1.5 times their body weight in nectar each day, and often travel long distances between nectar sources. They feed most often in the morning and late afternoon, which is when flowers produce the most nectar. Broad-bills can also capture tiny insects by gleaning them from plants and flycatching. As small as they are, they often join others birds in mobbing owls perched during the day, to reinforce to young ones what predators look like or to help drive potential predators away.
There are 5 or 6 similar subspecies of Broad-bills in Mexico, but only the subspecies magicus is known to occur in the U.S. Climate change has already begun to reshape the range of this hummer, although scientists believe that the vulnerability of this species will remain fairly stable overall. It has been estimated that for its current range, about 16% has already been lost in the mountains of Mexico, 85% is maintained, and 35% is gained by expanding further north into Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. Whatever the outcome, we welcome this magical migrant, and hope that he spends the entire winter with us!
