| Black-chinned Hummingbird | |
|---|---|
| Male | |
| Female | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Trochiliformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Genus: | Archilochus |
| Species: | A. alexandri |
| Binomial name | |
| Archilochus alexandri (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846) |
|
The Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) is a small hummingbird.
Adults are metallic green above and white below with green flanks. Their bill is long, straight and very slender. The adult male has a black face and chin, a glossy purple throat band and a dark forked tail. The female has a dark rounded tail with white tips and no throat patch; they are similar to female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Their breeding habitat is open semi-arid areas near water in the western United States, northern Mexico and southern British Columbia. The female builds a well-camouflaged nest in a protected location in a shrub or tree using plant fibre, spider webs and lichens.
They are migratory and spend most of the winter in Mexico.
These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing. While collecting nectar, they also assist in plant pollination.
Because of their small size, they are vulnerable to insect-eating birds and animals. This bird is fairly common in its breeding range.
A hybrid between this species and Anna's Hummingbird was called "Trochilus" violajugulum. The Black-chinned Hummingbird is also known to hybridize with Costa's Hummingbird. The Black-chinned humming bird is 8.25 cm (3 1/4 inches) long.
As of 2011, it has the smallest known genome of all living amniotes, only 0.91 pg (910 million base pairs).[1]