Broad-billed Hummingbird

Description:

The Broad-billed Hummingbird, Cynanthus latirostris, is a medium-sized hummingbird. It is 9–10 cm long, and weighs approximately three to four grams. Adults are colored predominantly a metallic green on their upperparts and breast. The undertail coverts are predominately white. The tail is darkly colored and slightly forked. The bill of the male is straight and very slender. It is red in coloration, and shows a black tip. His throat is a deep blue. The female is less colorful than the male. She usually shows a white eye stripe. The breeding habitat is in arid scrub of southeastern Arizona-(the Madrean sky islands of Arizona, extreme southwestern New Mexico and northern Sonora) in the southwestern United States to southwestern Mexico. Outside its breeding range, it will occasionally stray from southernmost California to Texas and Louisiana. The female builds a nest in a protected location in a shrub or tree. Females lay two white eggs. This hummingbird is partially migratory, retreating from northernmost areas during the winter. These birds feed on nectar from flowers and flowering trees using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing.