Broad-Tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) lives in mountain meadows across Western North America. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird
- At just 4 inches (10 cm) long and weighing only 3.6 grams (0.13 oz), the broad-tailed hummingbird is a feather-light marvel. Its wings beat fast enough to produce a "wing hum" between 35 and 100 Hz, a sound both sexes use to talk to each other while in flight. This tiny acoustic signal lets rivals and mates stay in touch without stopping, showing how even the smallest birds have evolved sophisticated, low-energy communication tools.
- Male broad-tailed hummingbirds create a buzzing "wing trill" during courtship that can be heard 50 m away by other males and 75 m away by females. The trill comes from air rushing through the 9th and 10th primary feathers, turning a simple wing beat into a long-range advertisement. In experiments, birds that lost this trill lost territory faster, proving the sound is a key weapon in defending prime feeding spots.
- Broad-tailed hummingbirds migrate from breeding grounds as far north as central Montana to winter in southern Mexico and Guatemala, but some populations stay put year-round. Partial migration means males arrive first on the breeding range, and then females follow.
- Females build solitary cup-shaped nests glued to branches with spider silk, then camouflage them with lichen, moss, and bits of bark. In 70 % of cases they return to the same site year after year, and construction takes about 4 to 5 days. This site fidelity saves time and energy, and the females incubate the two tiny white eggs for 16-19 days.
- Despite a massive range of 1,660,000 km² (640,000 sq mi) and an estimated 9.8 million individuals, the species has dropped 52 % between 1966 and 2015. Yet it remains classified as Least Concern because it thrives in human-modified habitats, especially where hummingbird feeders supply steady nectar.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeWestern North America
HabitatMountain meadows
DietNectar & insects
About the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird
In the sun-drenched meadows of the Rocky Mountains, the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird flits with irrepressible energy, its iridescent feathers glimmering like shards of splintered light as it darts from bloom to bloom. With a whir of its remarkable wings, beating at a hypnotic pace of up to 80 times per second, this tiny avian dynamo hovers, pauses, and then explodes into motion once more, its very existence a testament to the wonders of evolutionary adaptation. As it sips nectar from a colorful array of wildflowers, its broad, flat tail feathers shimmer and glow, a subtle yet striking hallmark of this diminutive, yet extraordinary, creature.
Hear the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, and 4,400+ more
Real recorded sounds, 11 nature games and a free Daily 5, 1v1 quiz duels, conservation wins and a safe Kids mode. Free on Feravox.
