Black-chinned Hummingbird
| Black-chinned Hummingbird | |
|---|---|
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| Male | |
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| Female | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Trochiliformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Genus: | Archilochus |
| Species: | A. alexandri |
| Binomial name | |
| Archilochus alexandri (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846) |
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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 spend most of the 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.
A hybrid between this species and Anna's Hummingbird was called "Trochilus" violajugulum. The Black-chinned Hummingbird is also known to hybridize with Costa's Hummingbird. The Black-chinned humming bird is 8.25 cm (3¼ inches) long.
As of 2011, it has the smallest known genome of all living amniotes, only 0.91 pg (910 million base pairs).[2]
References [edit]
- ^ BirdLife International (2012). "Archilochus alexandri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ Gregory, T.R. (2005). "Birds - Animal Genome Size Database". Genomesize.com. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
External links [edit]
- Video (.wmv) (.mp4 - iPod) Hummingbird hovers and feeds. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. Stored at blip.tv
- Video (.wmv) Hummingbird shaping a nest. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. Stored at blip.tv
- Video (.wmv) Hummingbird adding spider's web to nest. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. Stored at blip.tv
- Video (.wmv) Hummingbird adding downy seed to nest. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. Stored at blip.tv
- Black-chinned Hummingbird videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-chinned_Hummingbird/id for sounds, videos and more info
- [1] Female black chinned hummingbird from Logan, Utah
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Archilochus
- Birds of Canada
- Birds of Mexico
- Birds of North America
- Birds of the United States
- Birds of the Great Basin desert region
- Fauna of Northern Mexico
- Fauna of the Chihuahuan Desert
- Fauna of the Sonoran Desert
- Native birds of the Western United States
- Western North American migratory birds
