Broad-Tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus)
© 2006 - Walter Bauer - San Antonio, Texas
(Click on picture to enlarge)
Field Marks: This hummingbird is a mountain species and can be identified at once by the sound of its wings, a shrill trilling as the male flies from place to place. The female does not make hardly any sound. The male has a green back, and its throat is a bright rose-red. The female is similar to a black chin but larger. The sides of the female are tinged and Buffy. There is a touch of Rufous at the sides of the tail.
Voice: A thin sharp chip. That male trills with its wings.
Where found: Wyoming south to central Mexico. They like to winter in Mexico and Guatemala.
Texas: Summers (March - October) in the mountains of the Trans-Pecos (Guadalupe, Davis, Chisos Mountains etc.). Broad-tailed hummingbirds are migrants elsewhere through the Trans-Pecos as well as in the Texas Panhandle.
Habitat: They like open forests, glades, meadows in high mountains. This particular Broad-Tailed Hummingbird was seen in Grant, Colorado in June 2006.
Nest: They make a lichen-covered cup in either a bush or a small tree and lay two white eggs.