Calliope Hummingbird
Selasphorus calliope
About This Species
Watch mountain meadows, sagebrush slopes and open coniferous forest edges in the western United States and Canada for this tiny hummingbird, the smallest bird species breeding in North America, as males perform steep, whistling display dives above wildflower patches. Look for the male's flared, magenta-streaked throat catching the light as it hovers at tubular flowers. High-elevation meadows in full bloom during the breeding season, typically summer, offer the best combination of flowers and displaying males.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Watching from several metres near a flower patch or feeder, without following an individual bird as it forages, is usually enough for good views given how readily hummingbirds return to preferred blooms.
- Migratory bird protections apply across its United States and Canadian breeding range and again in Mexico where it winters, though specific rules differ by country.
- Avoid disturbing flowering patches it depends on and never attempt to catch or handle one, since its tiny size makes it especially vulnerable to stress.
LCAvesApodiformesTrochilidae
Seasonal Activity
181,237 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.