Broad-billed Hummingbird Cynanthus latirostris Scientific name definitions

The male Broad-billed Hummingbird is swathed in iridescent greens and blues, punctuated by a deep purple-blue gorget and a bright red bill that sets it apart from other hummingbirds in northern North America. Its range extends from the southwestern United States south to west central Veracruz and northernmost Guererro in Mexico.

Breeding populations through most of Mexico are resident, but northern populations migrate south into the range of resident Mexican populations for the winter. Northern breeders inhabit riparian zones of arid canyons, usually below 2,000 meters, which contain sufficient resources to support nesting for up to five months of the year. The breeding behavior of females is typical of other hummingbirds except that nests are constructed low to the ground and rarely decorated with lichen. Little is known about the breeding behavior of males, although courtship is believed to involve a dynamic display.

Like other hummingbirds, the the Broad-billed Hummingbird acquires the bulk of its energy from floral nectar produced by a large number of diverse wild and cultivated plants. These birds are probably opportunistic with regard to flower preference, but will select flowers with a high energy reward when given a choice. In the United States, nectar supplies in natural habitat vary greatly, and it is likely that peaks in nectar production lead to increases in reproduction.

Little is known about the social behavior of this species. Only a few observations have been made of its displays and vocalizations, and the function and importance of these activities remain unknown. Broad-billed Hummingbirds do interact with a number of other hummingbird species, and seem to adapt well to a variety of positions within a dominance hierarchy, as shown by their ability to use different foraging strategies depending on which other hummingbird species are present.

Compared to other hummingbirds in North America, the biology of the Broad-billed Hummingbird remains poorly studied, perhaps because its range is largely restricted to remote areas. Most of what is known comes from studies done in central Mexico that focused on habitat choice, social dominance, foraging behavior, and energetics (1 Des Granges, J. L. (1978). Organization of a tropical nectar-feeding bird guild in a variable environment. Living Bird 17:199-236. Close , 2 Montogmerie, R. D. (1979). Energetics of foraging and competition in some tropical hummingbirds. Phd Thesis, McGill Univ., Montréal. Close ), and from Baltosser's (3 Baltosser, W. H. (1986a). Nesting success and productivity of hummingbirds in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. Wilson Bulletin 93:353-367. Close , 4 Baltosser, W. H. (1989b). Nectar availability and habitat selection by hummingbirds in Guadalupe Canyon. Wilson Bulletin 101:559-578. Close , 5 Baltosser, W. H. (1996). Nest attentiveness in hummingbirds. Wilson Bulletin 108:228-245. Close ) work on habitat choice, nesting ecology, and food availability for females. Gaps in our understanding of this species offer many opportunities for further study.

The Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird (Cynanthus doubledayi) was, until recently, considered a subspecies of the Broad-billed Hummingbird; it was elevated to full species status (6 Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood (2021). The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close , 7 Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker (2022). Sixty-third supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. Ornithology 139:ukac020. Close ) based on genetic evidence demonstrating it to be more closely related to Canivet's Emerald (Cynanthus canivetii) than it is to the Broad-billed Hummingbird (8 G. M. Garcia-Deras, N. Cortes-Rodriguez, M. Honey, A. G. Navarro-Siguenza, J. Garcia-Moreno, and B. E. Hernandez-Banos (2008). Phylogenetic relationships within the genus Cynanthus (Aves: Trochilidae), with emphasis on C. doubledayi. Zootaxa 1742: 61–68. Close , 9 Hernández-Baños, B. E., L. E. Zamudio-Beltrán, and B. Milá (2020). Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of a subclade of Mesoamerican emerald hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae: Trochilini). Zootaxa 4748:581-591. Close ). Similarly, the Tres Marias Hummingbird (Cynanthus lawrencei) was elevated to full species status based on plumage differences from the Broad-billed Hummingbird that are comparable to those between other species in the genus (9 Hernández-Baños, B. E., L. E. Zamudio-Beltrán, and B. Milá (2020). Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of a subclade of Mesoamerican emerald hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae: Trochilini). Zootaxa 4748:581-591. Close , 7 Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker (2022). Sixty-third supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. Ornithology 139:ukac020. Close ).