Black-Chinned Hummingbird
Archilochus alexandri
About This Species
This small hummingbird favours desert washes, riparian scrub, and gardens across the southwestern US and Mexico, where males defend flowering patches and perch on exposed twigs between feeding bouts. Watch for its rapid, darting flight between tubular flowers and feeders, and listen for a dry, buzzy chip note. Spring and early summer, during the breeding season, offer the most reliable sightings as birds establish and defend territories.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Feeders and flowering plants placed a few metres from a seating area let this species approach on its own terms without being crowded.
- As with all hummingbirds, avoid handling birds or nests; nests are tiny and easily damaged, and in the US are protected under federal migratory bird law.
- Keep feeders clean and away from reflective windows, since collision risk is a bigger threat to this species than observers standing quietly nearby.
LCAvesApodiformesTrochilidae
Seasonal Activity
1,041,647 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.