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Photo Courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Selasphorus platycercus
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G5
State (S-rank): S3B
External links
General information
Distribution: The breeding range of the broad-tailed hummingbird, Selasphorus platycercus, extends discontinuously from eastern Guatemala north through Mexico north in the western United States through east-central California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, west Texas, to Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, southwestern Montana, and northern Wyoming. The broadtail is a common breeder in the eastern and central parts of the Great Basin. The broad-tailed hummingbird spends the winter in mid-elevation portions of west-central Mexico. Casual to accidental occurrence in winter has also been reported in southern California and in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas (A.O.U. 1998, Bent 1953, Curson et al. 1994, Kaufman 1996, Ryser 1985).
In Utah, the broadtail breeds in riparian or adjacent habitats, both in lower valleys and at higher elevations. Although stream-side habitat is preferred, broadtails in Utah have also been recorded as breeding in aspen, ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, and Douglas fir dominant habitats (Behle 1981; Ryser 1985; Calder and Calder 1992). Breeding in Utah has been confirmed from as high as 3,170 m (10,400 ft) to as low as 1,370 m (4,500 ft) (Behle 1981; H. Frost unpublished data).
Ecology: In Utah, the broadtail is typically more common during periods of migration than during the summer (Behle 1981). However, migration routes, departure/arrival dates, etc., in Utah and elsewhere are unknown. Likewise, habitat preferences during migration are also unknown. Weather patterns, photoperiod, and flower availability are likely key factors in triggering and sustaining migratory restlessness during both spring and fall periods.
In spring migration, males reach southern Arizona in late February or early March, northern Arizona in early April, Colorado in late April to late May, Wyoming in mid-May, and the northern limits of the range in Idaho by late May (Calder and Calder 1992). In Utah, most spring arrival dates recorded are for early May. Behle and Perry (1975) report an early spring date of mid-March (18th), which was likely a reflection of unseasonably warm weather. Spring arrival dates are generally associated with blossom appearance in various species of wildflowers.
Habitat preferences during migration are unknown.
Winter habitat in Mexico consists of oak forest with pines and cypress interspersed at elevations of 2,300 - 3,000 m. At higher elevations, fir forests mixed with oaks are preferred. Locally, broadtails become a subordinate species and feed at flowers not preferred by larger and/or resident hummingbirds at an elevation of 1,500 - 2,500 m. In humid pine-oak forests above 2,500 m, various species of non-hummingbird flowers with open, cup-shaped corollas are used for foraging. Sap is used as a nectar substitute, and insect foraging occurs both on the wintering grounds and during breeding periods throughout the range (A.O.U. 1998, Bent 1940, Calder and Calder 1992).
Breeding begins in early May in the southern portions of the broadtail's range and in early June in the north; breeding usually ends by mid-August. Typically one, but possibly two broods are raised each season (Baicich and Harrison 1997; Kaufman 1996; Calder and Calder 1992).
Nesting coincides with availability of flower nectar. After mating, male and female broadtails go their separate ways. The female raises the young completely by herself. Males that are successful at mating are promiscuous, but likely many males fail to mate each year. Males are very aggressive in holding their territories all summer, but high turn-over can occur from year to year (based on results of banding studies). Because males do not participate in the incubation of eggs or rearing of young, they spend all of their energy attempting to attract females throughout the breeding season.
Nests are from as low as 0.9 cm (3 ft) to as high as 9 m (30 ft) above the ground an
Species range
Breeding occurs in the mountains from central Idaho, southern Montana, and northern Wyoming south to southeastern California, northeastern Sonora, Guanajuato, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, and western Texas; and in eastern Chiapas and Guatemala (rare in eastern mountains) (AOU 1998, Camfield et al. 2013); nesting may occur in extreme eastern Oregon, north-central Idaho, and in the Black Hills of South Dakota/Wyoming, but neither nests nor eggs have been recorded there in recent years (see Camfield et al. 2013). Winter range extends from the highlands of northern Mexico south to western Veracruz and Oaxaca (west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec), in the breeding range in Chiapas and Guatemala, and rarely but regularly to coastal Texas and southern Louisiana, casually to southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, Georgia, and also southern Arizona (AOU 1998).
Migration
Breeding populations in the United States and northern Mexico move south for winter. They have departed from the northern part of the range usually by the end of September and from the southern United States by the end of October. Northward migration through the southern United States occurs from late February to April. Migrants arrive in northern breeding areas around mid-May.Breeding populations in the higher elevation mountains in southern Mexico (Chiapas) and Guatemala are nonmigratory (Malpica and Ornelas 2014).
Habitat
Habitat includes open woodland, especially pine, pine-oak, pinyon-juniper, and conifer-aspen associations, brushy hillsides, montane scrub, and thickets; in migration and winter, broad-tailed hummingbirds also inhabit open situations in lowlands where flowering shrubs are present (Subtropical and Temperate zones) (AOU 1983, 1998). These hummingbirds may move to higher elevations after breeding. Nests usually are on low horizontal branches of willows, alders, cottonwoods, pines, firs, spruces, or aspens, generally 1-4 meters above ground, sometimes in tall sycamores or pines at 6-9 meters. Nests often are above water (Johnsgard 1983).
Food habits
Diet includes nectar (primary sources vary with location) and small insects and spiders obtained from flowers, foliage, or by hawking. See Johnsgard (1983) for review of nectar sources in different areas.
Ecology
In Arizona, males defended breeding territory that averaged about 2040 sq m; in Colorado, males observed displaying close to one another in apparent lek (see Johnsgard 1983). May compete with rufus hummingbird for same food resources in some areas.In their mountain breeding areas, where nectar may be limited and night rather cold, broad-tailed hummingbirds regularly exhibit greatly lowered body temperatures at night in response to inadequate energy intake or the need to conserve energy for flight the next day.
Reproductive characteristics
In Arizona, Utah, and Colorado egg laying occurs primarily in June-July. Clutch size is 2. Incubation, by the female, lasts 16-17 days. Young are tended by the female, fledge in 21-26 days (18 days also reported). Individual females occasionally attempt 2 broods in a single season, but one is the norm. Females may nest close together.
Threats or limiting factors
No major threats are known. Over the short term, deforestation may provide enhanced food resources if suitable nectar sources increase in clearings and along forest edges, though subsequently an increase in forest cover may reduce hummingbird food resources and populations. For example, in high-desert riparian habitat in Oregon-Nevada, a broad-tailed hummingbird population decreased in abundance 10 years after cattle removal, apparently owing to decrease in abundance of flowering plants with increasing forest growth (Earnst et al. 2005). Similarly, increase in forest cover due to fire suppression could reduce local hummingbird food resources and populations.In west-central Colorado, climate change is affecting the phenology of hummingbird nectar resources, and this eventually could lead to contraints on hummingbird breediing success; similar phenological changes were not found in southern Arizona (McKinney et al. 2012). McKinney et al. (2012) characterized west-central Colorado as near the northern limit of the breeding range and suggested that continued climate change there could make the area unsuitable for broad-tailed hummingbird breeding; they suggested that this climate-change-driven phenological alteration, combined with increased warming at lower latitudes, could result in an overall shrinkage of the species' breeding range through contraction at the northern end of the range. However, west-central Colorado is well south of the northern limit of the breeding range (which extends several hundred kilometers farther north into southern Idaho, northern Wyoming, and southern Montana), and available Breeding Bird Survey data (though not well suited to hummingbirds) suggest that although Colorado hummingbird populations may be declining, the northernmost breeding populations actually may be increasing, and the species remains widespread and relatively common in historical habitat in areas north of Colorado. Thus further study of potential climate-change impacts is warranted. See Malpica and Ornelas (2014) for a discussion of long-term (thousands of years) impacts of climate change on broad-tailed hummingbird distribution and populations.
References
- Text modified from: Parrish, J. R., F. P. Howe, and R. E. Norvell. 1999. Utah Partners in Flight draft conservation strategy. UDWR publication number 99-40. Utah Partners in Flight Program, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City.
