The Black-chinned Hummingbird is a small hummingbird averaging only 3 ¼ inches long at maturity. This species is fairly widespread in its favorite breeding areas, which include open, semi-arid land near water. These birds are commonly found in the western United States, northern Mexico, and southern British Columbia. They typically migrate to Mexico for the winter, and like to feed on plant nectar and insects. The Black-chinned Hummingbird feeds on these insects after catching them with their wings. Due to the bird’s small size, larger birds mistake them for insects and food. The Black-chinned Hummingbird currently has a conservation rating of Least Concern.
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Medium hummingbird with metallic green upperparts, gray underparts, white breast, green-washed flanks. Head appears black overall with white spot behind eye; cap is very dark green. Throat is iridescent violet; bill is long and slightly decurved. Forked tail is dark green with black outer tail feathers.
Black-chinned Hummingbird: Breeds from British Columbia south to Mexico and central Texas. Spends winters in Mexico. Preferred habitats include mountain and alpine meadows, woodlands, canyons with thickets, chaparral, and orchards.
"teew-teew-twee", " tchew-tchew-twhew"
Gary Owen Dick
Yury Lisyak
The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..
Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.