Montana Field Guide

Small (3.0 to 3.5 g), slender hummingbird with a straight, black bill. Adult males are dull metallic bronze-green above; chin and upper throat velvety black, with a metallic violet iridescence on lower throat; underparts dull grayish white with sides and flanks darker and glossed with metallic bronze-green; central pair of tail feathers green, others black (often with a purplish sheen). Adult female dull metallic bronze-green above, but with duller head; chin, upper throat, and sides of throat creamy, often streaked or occasionally spotted with dusky. Breast and most of belly dull white or grayish white, often a faint brownish wash on sides bordered on flanks by metallic bronze-green. Tail greenish or blackish, with the 3 outer pairs of rectrices broadly tipped with white. Young resemble adult females, except for presence of buffy emarginations at tips of head and body feathers, which disappear through wear (Baltosser and Russell 2000).

For a comprehensive review of the conservation status, habitat use, and ecology of this and other Montana bird species, please see Marks et al. 2016, Birds of Montana.

In the arid western portion of range, the Black-chinned Hummingbird nests in environments that often include cottonwood, sycamore, willow, salt-cedar, sugar-berry, and oak. In most regions, its preferred habitat is a canyon or flood-plain riparian community (Baltosser and Russell 2000).

Main foods taken include nectar from flowers; small insects and spiders; sugar water from feeders provided by humans (Baltosser and Russell 2000).

Nests typically in riparian habitats. Nest is a cup shape, primarily composed of plant down. Eggs are elliptical oval in shape. White and unmarked in color. Clutch size generally 2 (Baltosser and Russell 2000). Nestlings seen on June 27 and July 19.