My Favorite Hummingbird

Last but certainly not least is my favorite of the hummingbirds in Madera Canyon, the Black-chinned. As the name suggests, th male has a black chin until they turn and flash their gorget at you and display a beautiful purple. They are pretty chatty and always let me know when they were near. While they feed on over 90 species of flowers, the black-chinned also eats small insects and spiders particularly during nesting season.

Size: 9 cm (4 in)
Wingspan: 11 cm (4 in)
Weight: 2-5 g (0.07-0.18 ounces)

The Rarity

The White-eared Hummingbird is a rare visitor to the United States, and as it turned out, to our feeders. She much preferred the honeysuckle growing nearby to our feeders but I managed to capture one shot of her on my first day in Arizona. There were many birders visiting Madera Canyon in hopes of glimpsing this rare beauty.

Size: 9-10 cm
Weight: 3-4 g

The Largest Hummingbird

The Magnificent Hummingbird is the largest hummingbird that visits North America. It sounded like a helicopter was landing when he came into the feeder. Just as vibrant as the Broad-billed male, the Magnificent was much more shy. He would zoom into the feeder, take a quick drink and zoom back off without stopping to pose like the smaller bird did quite often. Adding shyness to size and infrequent visits made the Magnificent a very challenging species to photograph.

Size: 11-14 cm (4-6 in)
Wingspan: 18 cm (7 in)
Weight: 7-8 g (0.25-0.28 ounces)

Broad-billed Hummingbird

The second species is quite the little jewel. The male Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris) was extremely proud of himself and took every opportunity to flash his lovely blues and greens. The female was extremely territorial... so much so that I watched her chase away a Mexican Grey Jay.

Size: 10 cm (4 in)
Wingspan: 12 cm (5 in)
Weight: 3-4 g (0.11-0.14 ounces)


Southeastern Arizona is as far north as this species ranges and those individuals found there are migratory. The majority of the species lives year round in Mexico. The Broad-billed consumes 1.6 to 1.7 times it's body weight in nectar every day.