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Learning the Difference Between
Adult Black-chinned & Broad-tailed Females

Learning the Difference Between Adult Black-chinned & Broad-tailed Females In the springtime months this lesson should be pretty easy for you. Once the young begin to emerge from the nest and make appearances at the flowers, feeders and water you offer your hummingbird population the rules of identification become a bit trickier. First though- we are going to get your feet wet with the adult females that consist of mostly the Black-chinned and the Broad-tailed here in the spring in New Mexico.

Depending upon your location in the state will depend on the first hummingbird you are likely to see in the spring and when. In the southern part of NM hummingbirds can begin putting in an appearance around the last week in February. A lot of these birds are just passing through on their trek north and may stop in for a sip or a few days. As March continues so does the northward migration as it spreads throughout our state. Most of these birds will be Black-chinned and Broad-tailed, although some hummingbirds taking the scenic route through our state may be other species and sprinkled with our other smaller population of NM breeders.

Black-chinned hummingbirds tend to occur in elevations not exceeding 9000’ and are most abundant lower elevations. The nesting elevation is cut off very near 7500’. Their habitat is Pinon/Juniper woodlands, lowland and foothill riparian forests, Gambel Oak- (scrub oak) scrublands and urban areas. I also see them occurring regularly in the arid regions of NM.

As you can see from the photographs, this adult female Black-chinned has a slight greenish wash on her sides under her wings that is visible when her wing is in a raised position. The top of her head may appear dull grayish brown or brownish gray and her back although green in color will often have an olive cast in appearance.

The Black-chinned bill is very long and slender and can at times appear to be slightly de-curved (down-curved). The effect of her long bill accentuates her slender body and long neck, making her appear kind of "swan like." The photo on the left does not show her tail feathers very well as they are held together making an identification difficult if you where to count on seeing the coloration in her tail feathers.

The Black-chinned does something with her tail in this position that the Broad-tailed hummingbird (Note the dark streak running down her cheek) does not do - she will bob her tail repeatedly this is called auriculars and is also a hint to up and down when she feeds and when this bird’s identity. The female shown above she is hovering in mid air is also sporting centrally located gorget spots. These spots are not always present, but their location centered on her throat are a hint to her gender.

Tail feathers that are spread into the fan position in the photo to the right allow you to visually see the difference in color between the two species. The female Black-chinned shown to the right, has outer three tail feathers on each side will be broadly tipped with white.

Sometimes the white tipping will also appear faintly into the 4th tail feather from the outside. The white tail tips will meet black and graduate from black into a metallic bronze- green as the feathers continue in to meet the bird’s rump.

The Broad-tailed hummingbird prefers a higher altitude than the Black-chinned, although a portion of their ranges over lap. Their normal lavational range falls within 6000’ and 9500’.

The Broad-tailed habitat is quite large and common in Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Pinon-Juniper, forests and foothill riparian areas. They can also be found in Coniferous, Aspen, Spruce-Fir forests, foothill and mountain riparian forests and scrublands, foot hill scrublands, meadows with an abundance of flowers and in towns in or near those habitats.

They are less common but can also be found in lowland riparian areas. In the photograph below picturing the side view of a female Broad-tailed in flight, note her flank (under her wing) is tinged with a buffy cinnamon coloration.

This color continues down into the underside of her tail. The Broad-tailed female lacks the darkened cheek- auriculars- mark that is prominent in the previously described Black-chinned female. The bill of the Broad-tailed is not notably long and seems length appropriate for the size of the bird. Broad-tailed females appear metallic bronze-green on their heads as well as their backs. With the changing light you may be able to depict flicks of gold or blue mixed within the greens on her back. When her tail is fanned the three outer tail feathers on both sides are visible allowing the white tipping to be easily seen. The forth tail feather from the outside on both sides may at times also have a small amount of white along its outer tip. Graduating from the white- black appears which graduates into a rufous color as it moves towards her body meeting her rump. The center 2 tail feathers will appear to have bronze-green/black tipping changing to rufous which extends to her rump. Again, the Broad-tailed hummingbird does not bob her tail. If you are only able to get a silhouette this would be a key factor in your identification.

This example of a Black-chinned Hummingbird nest was photographed by Joan Day-Martin.

Joan holds a USFW permit that enables her to have this nest in her possession, otherwise having a nest, or any other bird part, is against the law.







The graph below shows the results of information collected by The New Mexico Hummingbird Connection during a statewide 5-year study of hummingbird feeder use:

1) 24% of those surveyed had bee troubles
2) 16% reported house finches
3) 6% report problems with other birds. !!Flat or saucer type feeders would easily solve a large part of these problems
4) 18% complained of ants. !! This can remedied by using an ant guard filled with plain water hung above the feeder

HUMMINGBIRD FOOD:
Always use the 4 parts water to 1 part white table or unbleached sugar as your recipe for hummingbird solution. If bees etc are still a problem at your feeder, cut the formula to 5 or 6 parts water to 1 part sugar.

Bees prefer it sweeter and may stop visiting or at the least decrease in numbers. Hummingbirds will still feed from this solution mixture.