Calliope Hummingbird

The Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) holds the distinction of being the smallest breeding bird in North America. Weighing barely more than a penny, this incredibly hardy species is a true long-distance marvel, breeding in high-elevation montane environments and wintering deep in southern Mexico. It is named after the Greek muse Calliope, a fitting tribute to its exquisite beauty, though its vocal abilities are much more modest.

To identify a Calliope Hummingbird, look for its exceptionally compact shape, short tail, and relatively short bill compared to other western hummingbirds.

Key Field Marks

• The Male's Gorget: Adult males possess a unique and striking throat patch of iridescent, violet-magenta rays over a clean white background. These feathers can be projected forward, creating a "spiked" collar look when excited.
• Underparts & Upperparts: Both sexes are metallic green above. Males have dull greenish-white breasts, whereas females and immature birds feature a warm, peachy-buffy wash on their flanks and a whitish throat speckled with fine, dusky streaks.
• Tail and Bill Length: A key resting field mark is that the tail of a perched Calliope Hummingbird is quite short, often ending just short of or even with the wingtips. The bill is also distinctly shorter than that of similar rufous or broad-tailed hummingbirds.

Similar Species

• Rufous Hummingbird: Females and immatures are highly similar, but the Rufous has a longer bill, longer tail, and more extensive rufous coloration on its rump and tail base.
• Broad-tailed Hummingbird: Larger in size. The male has a solid, non-rayed rose gorget, and both sexes have longer bills and tails.

Calliope Hummingbirds breed primarily in the mountainous regions of western North America, including the Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Range, and the Sierra Nevada, extending up into British Columbia and Alberta.

Habitat Preferences

• Breeding Season: They favor open, shrubby areas within or near coniferous forests, willow canyons, avalanche chutes, and high-elevation subalpine meadows, often between 4,000 and 11,500 feet.
• Migration: During spring and fall, they travel through lowland valleys, desert scrub, and mountain passes, relying heavily on blooming wildflowers.
• Wintering Range: They spend the winter in the pine-oak forests and montane scrublands of southwestern Mexico.

Despite their tiny size, Calliope Hummingbirds are spirited and highly territorial, frequently chasing away much larger birds, including bluebirds and thrushes, from feeding sites.

Feeding and Diet

They feed primarily on floral nectar from alpine wildflowers like columbine, paintbrush, and penstemon. They also catch small insects mid-air (hawking) and regularly visit sap wells made by sapsuckers to feed on the sugary sap and the insects trapped within.

Cortship Displays and Nesting

To win a mate, males perform a dramatic U-shaped aerial dive. They climb up to 100 feet in the air and plunge downward, producing an sharp, metallic sputtering sound with their tail feathers at the bottom of the loop. Females build compact, cup-shaped nests, typically situated on a conifer branch beneath an overhanging limb, disguised with lichens and mosses to look like a pinecone.