Blue-throated hummingbirds have the slowest wingbeats of the North American species. There is a visual and audible difference between the blue-throated and the much faster beats of the Magnificent Hummingbird Eugenes fulgens.
Lampornis clemenciae is broken down into three subspecies. L. clemenciae bessophilus, which inhabits the southwestern United States, is slightly duller above and paler below. L. clemenciae clemenciae, found in central Mexico, and L. clemenciae phasmorus, found in Texas, differ from L.c. bessophilus by being slightly greener with a slightly shorter bill on average.
(Howell, 2002)
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Hummingbirds in general are declining mostly due to habitat loss. Several species are being affected mostly due to loss of wintering grounds.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Ecotourism is the most positive econonomic benefit blue-throated hummingbirds can provide for humans. Arizona is the hummingbird capital of the U.S.
Positive Impacts: ecotourism
The major role of blue-throated hummingbirds is pollination of flowers and shrubs.
Ecosystem Impact: pollinates
Blue-throated hummingbirds feed on nectar and small arthropods. They search around the flowers and leaves of plants for various insects, spiders, and plant lice. Upon inspection of 3 stomachs of blue-throated hummingbirds different types of insects were found such as small beetles, spiders, fles, and wasps. During peak blooming of certain species of flowers and shrubs they will actively search for nectar. Such nectar sources may include and not be limited to various Salvia species, Penstemon, Lobelia laxiflora and Nicotiana. Blue-throated hummingbirds also frequent honeysuckle, gilia, and agave to feed on the insects attracted to the flowers. This heavy diet of insects allows them to survive and thrive in areas where more nectar dependant species can not, thus resulting in larger territories and higher success in brood production.
(Johnsgard, 1983)
Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods
Plant Foods: nectar
Primary Diet: omnivore
The blue-throated hummingbird breeds mostly in the mountains of southern Arizona, extending into New Mexico, western Texas, and continuing south through the mountains of Mexico. Their Mexican range follows the highlands and central plateau as far south as Oaxaca. Rare sightings have been recorded in California, Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, Eastern Texas and Louisiana.
(Johnsgard, 1983)
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )
The blue-throated hummingbird is usually found near water. Prefers pine-oak forests, but will feed in open areas. They inhabit slightly higher elevations of the mountains within its described range, coming down to the lower elavations during the winter months. Average elevation ranges from 1800 to 3300 m.
(Howell, 2002; Johnsgard, 1983)
Range elevation: 300 to 3900 m.
Average elevation: 3300 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; scrub forest ; mountains
Other Habitat Features: riparian
There is little known about the average lifespan of adult birds apart from anecdotal reports of long-lived birds. A female had nested in the same nest for 10 recorded years producing 3 broods each year. On that tenth year the nest measured 127 mm high and 63 mm wide with an estimated 24,000 kilometers of spider and insect thread. When her nest was removed, she proceeded to build another nest within a month and produced 2 more eggs. A male has been recorded living for 12 years.
(Johnsgard, 1983)
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 12 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 95 months.
Blue-throated hummingbirds are among the largest of hummingbirds. They have a relatively short bill and a large broad tail with the outer most retrices edged in white. Males have a green dusky auricular mask. The brilliant blue throat is unmistakable in adult males, but is not aslways easily seen; it usually appears a soft gray color. The upper body is a bronzy green to golden green with a bronzier rump and darker green to blackish upper tail somethimes washed with a tinge of blue. The underside is a uniform light gray. The wings are a darker gray with some green mottling towards the top. Immature males resemble the adult male, but lack the full blue throat. Adult and immature females are very simalar to males, but do not show any blue coloration in the throat at all. Typical of the species regardless of sex or age is the double white facial stripes; an easy field mark to see regardless of light conditions.
Wingspans are typically 68.5 mm for females and 79 mm for males.
(Johnsgard, 1983; Howell, 2002)
Average mass: 7.6 g.
Range length: 110 to 140 mm.
Average wingspan: 73.75 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average mass: 7.6 g.
Hummingbirds in general have adapted several ways to avoid predation. To avoid predators while nesting, females will use mosses and lichens from the tree they are nesting in to make the nest virtually disappear. Hummingbirds are among the smallest of birds but they attack like no other. Hummingbirds have been known to attack hawks in defense of their nests and young. Even humans are not exempt from these attacks.
The female is the whole works behind reproduction in blue-throated hummingbirds. She chooses the nest site and builds the nest. Females also incubate the eggs and feed the young. Blue-throated hummingbirds have a unique nesting preference among other North American hummingbirds. The female will often seek for a covered area to nest under, such as a rock canyon wall, rock overhangs and under human structures as in under roofs.
(Johnsgard, 1983)
Breeding season: Breeding may occur between February and September, depending on location
Average eggs per season: 2.
Range time to hatching: 17 to 18 days.
Range fledging age: 24 to 29 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Average eggs per season: 2.
Parental care is the sole responsibility of the female. The male goes to higher elavations after mating is over.
Parental Investment: altricial ; female parental care
The blue-throated mountaingem, also known as the blue-throated mountain-gem or blue-throated hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae) is a species of hummingbird in tribe Lampornithini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in the United States and Mexico.[3][4]
In the 19th century the blue-throated mountaingem was placed several different genera, and in the early 20th century in its own genus Cyanolaemus. Since the mid-1900s it has been in its present genus Lampornis.[5] It has three subspecies, the nominate L. c. clemenciae, L. c. phasmorus, and L. c. bessophilus.[3]
The blue-throated mountaingem is the largest hummingbird found in the United States. It is 11.2 to 12.8 cm (4.4 to 5.0 in) long. Males weigh an average of 8.4 g (0.30 oz) and females 6.8 g (0.24 oz). Both sexes have a medium-length black bill, though there is some variation among the subspecies and females' bills are longer than males'. Both sexes of all subspecies have a conspicuous white stripe behind the eye and a narrower stripe extending backward from the corner of its bill under a blackish cheek patch.[5]
The nominate subspecies is the largest and has the longest bill. Adult males have an iridescent cobalt to cerulean blue gorget with a narrow buffy gray margin. They have mostly bright greenish bronze upperparts that become dark bronzy olive on the rump. They have medium brownish gray underparts with some greenish bronze iridescence on the sides of the breast. The tail is black with some faint indigo iridescence and white tips on the outer two pairs of feathers. Females have entirely medium gray underparts without the gorget.[5]
Subspecies L. c. phasmorus is the smallest and has the shortest bill. Its upperparts are bright green rather than greenish bronze. Males' underparts are a cold gray rather than brownish gray and females' are dark gray. The iridescence on the sides of the breast is green. The white tips on the tail feathers are wider than those of the nominate.[5]
Subspecies L. c. bessophilus is between the other two subspecies in size. Its upperparts are duller than the nominate's, with less bronze to the green. Males' underparts are brownish gray and females' medium pale gray; like the nominate there is some greenish bronze iridescence on the sides of the breast. The white tips on the tail feathers are the narrowest of all subspecies.[5]
The nominated subspecies of blue-throated mountain gem has the largest range. It is found in Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental and central plateau as far south as Oaxaca. L. c. basophils is found in southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and in the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango. L. c. phasmorus is positively known only from the Chisos Mountains of southern Texas, where it breeds, but its non-breeding range is not known. Birds in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León may also be this subspecies rather than the nominate.[5]
The blue-throated mountain gem is found in a variety of moist forest landscapes. In the US and northern Mexico, it occurs in riparian forest (often in canyons), pine-oak forest, and mixed coniferous forests. In central and southern Mexico it tends to favor coniferous forests. In Arizona it is found in the "sky island" mountain ranges, seldom below 1,300 m (4,300 ft) of elevation. Near Mexico City it occurs between 3,600 and 3,900 m (11,800 and 12,800 ft) and in Oaxaca between 2,500 and 3,000 m (8,200 and 9,800 ft).[5]
The two northern subspecies of blue-throated mountaingem, and possibly the northernmost of the nominate subspecies, migrate south in winter, but their exact locations are not known. A few individuals remain through winter at feeding stations in southeastern Arizona. The populations in central and southern Mexico are thought to withdraw to lower elevations in winter but this movement has not been fully defined.[5]
The blue-throated mountaingem forages for nectar at a wide variety of flowering plants. The species fed from vary considerably across the bird's wide north–south and elevational ranges. It is common at sugar-water feeders. It hovers to feed on nectar. In some areas it defends patches of large flowers but not those of smaller ones. In the breeding season (especially early when flowers are scarce) and in winter it also feeds on small arthropods. These are taken by hawking, in sustained flight, and by gleaning from bark and foliage. In winter it also feeds on sap from wells created by the Red-naped sapsucker (Syraphicus nuchalis).[5]
The blue-throated mountaingem's breeding seasons vary throughout its range. It begins in February in Veracruz, Mexico, and continues to September in some parts of its range. The earliest known egg laying in Arizona was in mid-Apr. In the higher elevations in Mexico laying begins in late May or June. Two clutches per season are common and sometimes three have been documented.[5]
As with all hummingbirds, the female alone constructs the nest and raises the young. The nest is made from soft plant fibers cemented with spider silk. The exterior is camouflaged with green mosses where available; in drier habitats, moss-like dendroid lichens may be used, or the exterior may be left bare. It is typically attached to a tree branch or to roots and stems under natural overhangs. They are also commonly placed on human-made substrates such as a wire or nail under an eave or in a building. The female incubates the two white eggs for 17 to 19 days and fledging occurs 24 to 26 days after hatch.[5]
Male blue-throated mountaingems sing two types of songs: a simple "peep song", which sounds like a squeaky wheel lasting about one second, and a quiet but complex "whisper song" lasting as long as eight seconds.[6] The female is also reported to sing during the breeding season to attract the attention of males.[6] The male song differs in several respects from that of oscine birds in that it uses sharp atonal forceful trills and clicks, and has an unusually large vocal range of 1.8 to 30 kHz.[6][7] Males sing from a perch, usually a bare twig high in a tree. Females vocalize near the nest when alarmed or when disputing a nectar source.[5]
The bird also uses ultrasonic vibrations which are not for communication, but possibly serve to flush out and disorient its insect prey.[7]
The IUCN has assessed the blue-throated mountaingem as being of least concern. It has a very large range and its population of about 2,000,000 mature individuals is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] The species is highly tolerant of human activity. However, in the northern part of its range it is uncommon and found in only a few narrow canyons, so damage to those areas by fire or human alteration may affect it. Except in the US, little of its range has formal protection.[5]
The blue-throated mountaingem, also known as the blue-throated mountain-gem or blue-throated hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae) is a species of hummingbird in tribe Lampornithini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in the United States and Mexico.
