Adult male. Photo: Belen Schneider/Audubon Photography Awards
Calypte costae
| Conservation status | Common within its range. Undoubtedly has declined where desert is cleared for development, but in some places it has adapted to nesting in suburbs. |
|---|---|
| Family | Hummingbirds |
| Habitat | Deserts, washes, sage scrub. Mostly in dry and open habitats having a good variety of plant life, such as washes and streamsides in Sonoran desert, lower parts of dry canyons, coastal sage scrub. Rarely moves up into mountain meadows after breeding season. |
At flowers, usually feeds while hovering, extending its bill into the flower. At feeders, may either hover or perch. To catch small insects, may fly out and capture them in midair, or hover to pluck them from foliage.
2. White. Incubation is by female only, 15-18 days. Young: Female feeds the young. Age of young at first flight about 20-23 days.
Female feeds the young. Age of young at first flight about 20-23 days.
Mostly nectar and insects. Takes nectar from flowers, and will feed on tiny insects as well. Often visits desert natives such as agave, chuparosa, desert honeysuckle, and fairy-duster. Will also feed on sugar-water mixtures in hummingbird feeders.
In courtship display, male flies high, then zooms down past perched female and climbs again, making shrill high-pitched whistle during the dive; also gives the same whistled song while perched. One male may mate with several females. Nest site is in rather open or sparsely leaved shrub or small tree, sometimes in yucca or cactus, usually 2-8 feet above the ground. Placed on horizontal or diagonal branch. Nest (built by female) is a compact cup of plant fibers, bits of leaves or flowers, spider webs; usually has a grayish look. Female continues to add to nest during incubation period.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
Some male hummingbirds have special feathers that audibly vibrate as they zoom around to impress females. Listen here.
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Yes, that's its face. The behavior is rarely seen, and it's one of the more dramatic examples of courtship in the bird world.
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