Calliope Hummingbird

(Selasphorus Calliope)

The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest bird in North America.

BILL: dull black or dusky relatively short bill.

SIZE: a small hummingbird, measuring 3.5 inches in length - including its tail. 1.56-1.65 inches wingspan.

WEIGHT: 2-3 grams, females are larger than males.

COLOR: green, black, gray, white, magenta, buff, iridescent.

OPEN WOODLANDS: found in cool mountain environments in mountain meadows, willow and alder thickets near streams, thorn forests, pine-oak forests, and brushy edges.

NECTAR from cup-shaped flowers or isolated tubular flowers, and sapwells created by sapsuckers, including paintbrushes, penstemon, columbine, trumpet gilia, and elephant head.

INSECTS small insects, ants, beetles, bees, flies, and wasps.

NEST: well-insulated cup-shaped nest with soft, downy plant material, bits of lichen, moss, or bark fragments, held by spiderweb on its exterior. Built on evergreen tree such as lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, or western red cedar, 6-39 feet above the ground.

EGGS: 2 eggs, tiny smooth white, 0.4-0.5 inches in length, 0.3-0.4 inches in width.

INCUBATION: 15-16 days, female only.

NESTLING PHASE: 18-21 days.

Highly territorial during breeding season, but subordinate to larger hummingbird species on the wintering grounds in Mexico.

Found in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.