Bird name:

Lucifer Hummingbird

Calothorax lucifer

Order

APODIFORMES

Family

Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Code 4

LUHU

Code 6

CALLUC

ITIS

178030

Breeding Location:

Bushes and shrubs

Breeding Type:

Solitary nester, Promiscuous

Breeding Population:

Rare to casual

Egg Color:

White

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Plant fibers, flowers, lichen, seeds, spider web.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Lucifer Hummingbird: Small hummingbird with metallic green upperparts, head, and sides, flared purple-red gorget (throat feathers) extending around sides of neck, and white breast and belly. Tail is dark and deeply forked. Bill is long and decurved. Female is duller with pale buff throat and underparts and white-cornered, slightly forked tail.

Range and Habitat

Lucifer Hummingbird: Fairly common in the Big Bend area of Texas, rare to casual in scrublands, arid slopes, and canyons in southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona. Spends winters in Mexico. Preferred habitats include arid slopes with agave and yucca.

Breeding and Nesting

Lucifer Hummingbird: Two white eggs are laid in a nest made of plant fibers, flowers, lichens, and seeds, and built from 4 to 6 feet above the ground in a shrub or cholla cactus. Eggs are incubated for 15 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Lucifer Hummingbird: Eats spiders, small insects (primarily flies), and nectar; forages while hovering.

Vocalization

Lucifer Hummingbird: Song is a high squeaky and twittering "chip."

Similar Species

Lucifer Hummingbird: Black-chinned Hummingbird has black face, straight black bill, short, notched tail, and lacks white stripe behind eye. Costa's Hummingbird has purple crown, head, and throat, straight bill, and short, rounded 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.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Gorget

A small iridescent patch on the throat of a hummingbird.

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