Black-chinned Hummingbird
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| Black-chinned Hummingbird | ||||||||||||||
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| Archilochus alexandri (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846) |
The Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, is a small hummingbird.
Adults are metallic green above and white below with green flanks. Their bill is long, straight and very slender. The adult male has a black face and chin, a glossy purple throat band and a dark forked tail. The female has a dark rounded tail with white tips and no throat patch; they are similar to female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Their breeding habitat is open semi-arid areas near water in the western United States, northern Mexico and southern British Columbia. The female builds a well-camouflaged nest in a protected location in a shrub or tree using plant fibre, spider webs and lichens.
They are migratory and most winter in Mexico.
These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing. While collecting nectar, they also assist in plant pollination.
Because of their small size, they are vulnerable to insect-eating birds and animals. This bird is fairly common in its breeding range.