• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Local Navigation
  • Skip to Search
  • Skip to Sitemap
  • Skip to Footer
Help develop a Bird ID tool!

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Selasphorus platycercus ORDER: APODIFORMES FAMILY: TROCHILIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

  • Similar Species
  • Related Species
  • Go to:
Broad-tailed Hummingbird Photo

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

A hummingbird of subalpine meadows, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird ranges across the south-central Rockies in summer. It possesses a number of physiological and behavioral adaptations to survive cold nights, including the ability to enter torpor, slowing its heart rate and dropping its body temperature.

Hummingbird FeedersSponsored Ad

Calls

  • Calls, wings
    Recorded by Robert C. Stein
    • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Chips and chitters. Displaying male makes buzzing trill with wings. No song used in courtship or territory defense.

Birds and Beans Coffee
Search the Macaulay Library online archive for more sounds and videos