Black-chinned Hummingbird

The Black-chinned Hummingbird is one of the most adaptable and widespread hummingbirds of the western United States, equally at home in desert washes, mountain canyons, and suburban gardens. Adult males have a metallic green back and crown, clean white underparts, and a throat that appears velvety black in most light, revealing a narrow band of iridescent purple only when it catches direct sun. Females and immatures lack the dark gorget, showing a plain whitish throat, green back, and pale underparts, making them very similar to several other female hummingbirds.

A distinctive habit is its frequent tail-pumping while hovering, a behavior that can help identify the species even when plumage details are hard to see.

Key Field Marks

• Male: black chin/throat with a thin iridescent purple lower band, green back, white breast
• Female: green back, whitish throat and underparts, faint dusky streaking on throat
• Distinctive habit of pumping the tail up and down while hovering at flowers
• Slightly drooped bill tip compared to some relatives

Similar Species

• Ruby-throated Hummingbird males have a red, not black, throat; females are very similar and best separated by range and tail-pumping behavior.
• Costa's Hummingbird males have a purple gorget that extends into pointed "mustache" streamers along the neck.
• Anna's Hummingbird is larger with a rose-pink to magenta crown and throat in males.

Habitat

This species uses a very broad range of habitats, from dry desert arroyos and canyon bottoms to oak woodlands, riparian cottonwood groves, and residential gardens with flowering plants and feeders.

Range

It breeds across much of the western United States from the Pacific coast to the Great Plains and south into northern Mexico.

Migration

Black-chinned Hummingbirds are short- to medium-distance migrants, wintering mainly along the Gulf Coast of Mexico and in parts of the southwestern United States.

Behavior

Males perform steep pendulum-shaped display dives near females, producing a soft whirring or buzzing sound with their wings at the bottom of the arc.

Voice

Calls include a soft, low chattering and a sharp "tsip" note; the species lacks a musical song typical of songbirds.

Feeding

Black-chinned Hummingbirds visit a wide variety of tubular red, orange, and purple flowers for nectar and hawk small insects from the air or glean them from spider webs and foliage.

Nesting

The female builds a small, camouflaged cup nest of plant fibers and spider silk, often on a low horizontal branch, and raises two young broods per season in warmer parts of its range.