Broad-tailed Hummers on the Mountain: Time to Make More Birds!

Birds are born to do four things: Eat, Don't get eaten (get lunch before your are lunch), Make more birds, and Molt! It is spring and the time to make more birds (breed)! As expected, Broad-tailed Hummers are on the mountain right now in breeding mode!

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Two male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds in Summerhaven on May 17, 2025, facing off!

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Broad-tailed Hummingbirds winter in the mountainous regions of Mexico and breed in  the U.S. at the higher elevations of the central and southern Rocky Mountains, eastern California, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas. 

During breeding season courting males will perform spectacular aerial displays with high climbs, dives and hovers to attract females. I have never been lucky enough to see one of these displays, however the weekend of May 17th, our feeder in Summerhaven was packed with male and female Broad-tailed's, making it look like singles night at the local bar!

​But first, some basics on the species. ​

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Canon R7, RF 100-500mm at 400mm, 1/2000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 5000, EV +0.67

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Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are a medium sized hummingbird with a slender body, big head and a long straight bill. The tail extends beyond the wingtips when perched, evident in the photo above. They are green above, with greenish or buffy flanks and a white chest with white line down the belly. Adult males, as above, have a rose-magenta throat patch (gorget).

​The Broad-tailed below is a male photographed in July of 2024 with a gorget that looks like it is in process, perhaps an immature or a mature male molting post-breeding. 

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Canon R6, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/400 sec., f/8, ISO 4000, EV +1.

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Below are two images of a female Broad-tailed, similar to the male but with speckles on the throat instead of the magenta throat patch. ​Both of these photos were shot on August 17, 2017 in Summerhaven, when wildflowers were in bloom.

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Canon 6D, Sigma C 150-600mm at 600mm, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 800, +0 EV.

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Canon 6D, Sigma C 150-600mm at 600mm, 1/1000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 800, +0 EV.

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The challenge for Broad-tailed's in May is that although they need to be on their breeding grounds in the mountains, nectar from flowers is only present at lower elevations. Thus nectar feeders are very helpful in the spring, making our feeder here in Summerhaven a very popular spot. ​

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Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 300mm, 1/4000 sec., f/5.6, ISO 3200, +0 EV.

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On May 17th our feeder was very busy shortly after noon, with anywhere between two and six Broad-tailed's on or near it all the time. Above, a shot showing some of the turmoil.

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Males Compete . . .

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Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/4000 sec., f/701, ISO 4000, +0 EV.

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In this sequence, a male is sitting on the feeder when another male approaches.

Extensive research has been done on this species, especially at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (Ref: Birds of the World)​. This research shows that males are very territorial during the mating season, i.e. now! This territorial behavior likely extends to feeders. 

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The male on the feeder extends his long bill toward the intruder, above. Below, he hops off of the perch and they face off "mano a mano".* The lower bird has only a partial gorget, typical of an immature male. The mature male, upper position, is likely showing dominance.

*An expression from the Spanish, hand to hand. I know birds don't have hands.

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Below, they fly off frame, taking their dispute "outside." 

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Males and Females Look for Mates . . . .  

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Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 363mm, 1/4000 sec., f/5.6, ISO 4000, +0.33 EV.

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In this sequence a female is sitting on the left side of the feeder, and does not budge! A male is coming in from the left, with a female hovering on the right.

Below, the male crosses past the feeder and moves in on the hovering female.

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Below, three frames showing the progression of their encounter! This whole sequence as shot took two seconds. Note that the female on the feeder stays put, playing the role of observer.

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For the photo geeks: The frame above, before processing, contained the feeder tray and part of the bottle on the left side of the frame, image to the right. I rarely remove anything from images on this blog, but in this case for the sake of aesthetics I removed the bottle and tray using the Remove tool in Lightroom including the Generative AI and Detect Objects  options. LR did a good job of taking the feeder away and filling the space with generated background.

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Second set . .

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Canon R5 Mk II, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/6400 sec., f/7.1, ISO 8000, +0 EV.

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In this series a male is perched on the feeder, and a female comes in looking for a landing spot, or maybe just cruising by . . . . . .?

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The male bends backwards eyeing the female . . .

In the shot below the camera switches focus to the female as she enters the frame.

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The female lands on the perch while the males attention becomes very focused . . .

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Below, they both fly off to the left. 

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Which in time leads to nests . . . 

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Canon R6, EF 100-400mm with 1.4x Ext. at 560mm, 1/200 sec., f/11, ISO 800, +0 EV.

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The image above was captured on July 19, 2021 near the meadow trail, just below 9000 feet. Nests are built entirely by the females in 4-5 days out of spider webbing, covered with lichens, bark fragment, and moss, to act as camouflage. Mom lays two eggs, which incubate for 16-19 days. She provides all of the care for the nestlings, the male's only role is to provide genetic information!  

As the nestlings grow, so does the nest itself, with the spider webbing allowing the nest to expand. Think of it as a starter house made of spandex that grows along with the family! 

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That's all for now!  Keep your eye out for hummers this spring, up on the mountain and down in the valley. If you have feeders, keep them clean and full, they help provide supplemental energy especially before the flowers bloom. 

Happy trails! 

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