Bird name:

Calliope Hummingbird

Stellula calliope

Order

APODIFORMES

Family

Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Code 4

CAHU

Code 6

STECAL

ITIS

178048

Breeding Location:

Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Mountains

Breeding Type:

Polygamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

White

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

15 - 16

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Shredded bark, bits of cones, and plant down, covered with lichen.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Calliope Hummingbird: Very small hummingbird with metallic green upperparts and flanks, and white underparts. Throat feathers are long and purple-red, appearing as streaks on a white background, whiskers when fluffed out, or dark, inverted V when folded. Female and juvenile have pale rufous flanks, green upperparts, white underparts, and small dark spots on throat.

Range and Habitat

Calliope Hummingbird: Breeds in mountains from central interior British Columbia and southwestern Alberta, south through Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California to northern Baja California, and east to northern Wyoming, western Colorado, and Utah. Spends winters from northern to central Mexico. Found in mountains (along meadows, canyons and streams), in open montane forests, and in willow and alder thickets. Commonly found in chaparral, lowland brushy areas, and deserts during migration and in winter

Breeding and Nesting

Calliope Hummingbird: Two white eggs are laid in a small lichen-and-moss nest covered with cobwebs, and built on a limb of a bush or well-protected small tree. Incubation ranges from 15 to 16 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Calliope Hummingbird: Feeds on nectar, insects, and spiders. Preferred flowers include paintbrushes, penstemon, columbine, trumpet gilia, and elephant head.

Readily Eats

Sugar Water, Commercial instant nectars

Vocalization

Calliope Hummingbird: Typical call is a high, thin "tsip." Male display call is a high, thin "zee-ree."

Similar Species

Calliope Hummingbird: Female Rufous Hummingbird is larger with longer bill, darker flanks, and more rufous at base of tail.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

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.

Field Guide to Birds of North America