Black-chinned Hummingbird Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small, fairly slender hummingbird with a fairly straight bill.

  Relative Size

  Same size as Ruby-throated Hummingbird

  sparrow-sized or smaller

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 3.5 in (9 cm)
    • Weight: 0.1-0.2 oz (2.3-4.9 g)
    • Wingspan: 4.3 in (11 cm)

  © Paul Fenwick / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Dull metallic green above and dull grayish-white below. Males have a velvety black throat with a thin, iridescent purple base. Females have a pale throat. In both sexes, the flanks are glossed with dull metallic green. Female’s three outer tail feathers have broad white tips. The bill is black.

• Behavior

  Hovers at flowers and feeders, darts erratically to take tiny swarming insects, perches atop high snags to survey its territory, watching for competitors to chase off and for flying insects to eat. During courtship and territorial defense, males display by diving 66-100 feet.
• Habitat

  Most often seen at feeders or perched on dead branches in tall trees. The Black-chinned Hummingbird is a habitat generalist, found in lowland deserts and mountainous forests, and in natural habitats and very urbanized areas as long as there are tall trees and flowering shrubs and vines.