HUMMINGBIRD SPECIES

Xantus' Hummingbird

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Basilinna xantusii

The Xantus' Hummingbird, a stocky, mid-size hummingbird species that can only be found in Baja California.

They have an extremely limited home range and are less likely to wander than many hummingbirds.

They are about 3.15 - 3.54 inches long, with 4.25 wingspan and weight of 3 - 4 grams.

Adults are colored predominantly green on their upper parts and back. Tail is mostly dark reddish-brown with faint black tips, but the inner two rectrices are green.

Both sexes have white eye stripe. The stripe is further enhanced by a bolder black stripe that borders the lower side.

They have cinnamon-brown underparts including the undertail coverts, with the cinnamon covering the throat in the female.

The males' throat is an iridescent green, though it is often seen as black. Bill is reddish with a black tip and often slightly curved.

The crown is often slightly greenish, but it appears black at many angles.

SONG: A series of short rather non- musical notes.

Feeds on nectar from flowers and flowering trees using a long extendable tongue or catches insects on the wing.

Prefers dryland shrubs, thick shrubby forests, forest edges, and suburban areas. They evidently have adapted fairly well to a human presence within their range.

Breeding habitat occurs in various habitats of southern Baja Peninsula of Mexico where it is considered endemic. It has been recorded as a vagrant up the Pacific coast of North America to British Columbia in Canada.

Their nest is built with plant material interwoven with spider silk, with the outside part covered in lichens.

The female alone builds the nest, incubates the eggs and raises the young.

SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.sdakotabirds.com