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Photo by Rick Fridell
Photo Copyright Rick Fridell
Costa's hummingbird
Calypte costae
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G5
State (S-rank): S2
External links
Species range
The Costa's Hummingbird breeds from central California to southwestern Utah, and south to Baja California, Sonora, and Arizona, occasionally reaching southwestern New Mexico.. Its winter range extends from southern California and Arizona south to Sinaloa and Nayarit, with scattered sightings further north to British Columbia and east to Texas (AOU 1998). This species inhabits deserts and coastal scrublands of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. In Utah, they are present March-June in the Virgin River drainage. To date, however, no nests have been found, possibly due to difficulty distinguishing them from female Black-chinned Hummingbirds.
Ecology
Their habitat includes desert, semi-desert washes, arid foothills, and chaparral. They also utilize mountains, meadows, and gardens during migration/winter (AOU 1998). Nests are typically in trees, shrubs, vines, or cacti, around 1.5 meters high. Their diet consists of nectar from various desert flowers (e.g., ocotillo, chuparosa, desert lavender) and small insects/spiders.
Threats or limiting factors
The Costa's Hummingbird faces significant habitat loss, with California coastal scrub nearly eliminated and desert scrub threatened by development and flood control (Baltosser and Scott 1996). While adaptable to some development, this is less common in desert scrub. The most severe threat is the conversion of desert scrub to fire-prone buffelgrass, which eliminates native plants (Baltosser and Scott 1996). Cattle grazing is a minor concern compared to buffelgrass. Though they may benefit from frequent fires in California chaparral, such fires are unnatural and harmful in desert scrub due to non-fire-adapted nesting trees (Baltosser and Scott 1996). Window strikes, expanding development, house cats, human recreational activities (OHV’s), and fire suppression are other potential threats to these birds.
