The Hummingbird 1940 Ed and Jean Hoff

more at http://quickfound.net/

'The life of the Broadtail Hummer.'

Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-tailed_hummingbird

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) is a medium-sized hummingbird species found in highland regions from western United States and Western Canada to Mexico and Guatemala...

Description

Juvenile male landing on a feeder

Medium in size, the broad-tailed hummingbird is 4 inches (10 cm) in length and possesses an overall wingspan of 5.25 inches (13.3 cm). Weighing around 3.6 grams (0.13 oz), the female tends to be slightly larger than the male. Adults of both gender show an iridescent green back, white eye ring and a rounded black tail projecting beyond their wing tips, from which their name was inspired.

This species shows sexual dimorphism, which means that male and female have different characteristics. The male possesses a characteristic bright rose-red gorget. An identification characteristic is the white eye ring. The female can be distinguished from the male by her paler coloration, cinnamon flanks, and spotted cheeks absent in the male.

Taxonomy

The broad-tailed hummingbird, Selasphorus platycercus, is a member of the order Apodiformes, in the family Trochilidae. Hummingbird taxonomy has not been extensively studied, but its phylogenic division can be divided as a family into nine clades in which the broad-tailed hummingbird is a member of the "Bee group" and included in the Selasphorus genus. This genus is composed of 6 members taxonomically distinguished based on color characteristics. This genus is characterized by hummingbirds with a plumage containing rufous coloration and a neck gorget of orange to purple in males...

Habitat

This hummingbird is seen in the understory or under tree canopies of pine and oak woodland. It forages in open areas with flowers or in grasslands among trees and shrubs. Its breeding habitat is mainly in subalpine meadows, foothills, montane valleys, and strands of aspen or spruce.

Distribution

The broad-tailed hummingbird is found from Guatemala to Mexico, and western United States and Western Canada during summer, while wintering regions are mainly in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Migration

This species exhibits partial migration, depending on the northern range during winter. The specific migratory route used by the broad-tailed hummingbird remains unknown, although migrating populations winter in southern Mexico or Guatemala and return to their breeding area in spring. Males arrive first to the breeding range, followed by breeding females. Some populations of the broad-tailed hummingbird in southern Mexico and Guatemala do not migrate, a variation in behavior called "sedentary".

Behavior

Vocalizations

The broad-tailed hummingbird produces several different sound patterns. This bird's call sounds like a sharp “cheet”, which is repeated “cheet cheet cheet cheet...”. Hummingbird wing beats have also been found to be a communication signal. These birds produce two different types of sound using their wing beat. The first one is a “wing hum” and is simply produced when the hummingbird flies. This type of wing beat has a sound that ranges from 35 to 100 Hz, and both sexes are able to produce it for communication. The second is “wing trills” produced by the male hummingbird during courtship displays. The wing trill produces a buzzing sound and can be heard 50 m away by other males and 75 m away by other females. This sound is produced when air passes rapidly through the 9th and 10th primary feathers. In one experiment, birds without this wing trill lost their territory more easily to more aggressive birds...