The broad-tailed hummingbird (''Selasphorus platycercus'') is a medium-sized hummingbird species found in

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

regions from western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Guatemala.

Description

Broad-tailed hummingbird female landing at feeder

Medium in size, the broad-tailed hummingbird is in length and possesses an overall

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

of . Weighing around , the female tends to be slightly larger than the male. Adults of both sexes show an iridescent green back, white eye ring and a rounded black tail projecting beyond their wing tips, from which their name was inspired. This species shows

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

, which means that male and female have different characteristics. The male possesses a characteristic bright rose-red

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the th ...

. An identification characteristic is the white eye ring. The female can be distinguished from the male by her paler coloration, cinnamon flanks, and spotted cheeks absent in the male.

Taxonomy

The broad-tailed hummingbird, ''Selasphorus platycercus,'' is a member of the order

Apodiformes Traditionally, the bird order Apodiformes contained three living families: the swifts (Apodidae), the treeswifts (Hemiprocnidae), and the hummingbirds (Trochilidae). In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is raised to a superorder Apodi ...

, in the family

Trochilidae Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

''.'' Hummingbird

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

has not been extensively studied, but its

phylogenic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

division can be divided as a family into nine

clades A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

in which the broad-tailed hummingbird is a member of the "Bee group" and included in the ''

Selasphorus ''Selasphorus'' is a genus of hummingbirds from Middle and North America. Taxonomy The genus ''Selasphorus'' was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William John Swainson to accommodate the rufous hummingbird which is now the type s ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

. This genus is composed of 6 members taxonomically distinguished based on color characteristics. This genus is characterized by hummingbirds with a plumage containing rufous coloration and a neck

of orange to purple in males. Members of this

include: ''Selasphorus sasin'' :

Allen's hummingbird Allen's hummingbird (''Selasphorus sasin'') is a species of hummingbird that breeds in the western United States. It is one of seven species in the genus ''Selasphorus''. Description Allen's hummingbird is a small bird, with mature adults reac ...

''Selasphorus rufus'' : Rufous hummingbird ''Selasphorus scintilla'' :

Scintillant hummingbird The scintillant hummingbird (''Selasphorus scintilla'') is a hummingbird endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. This species is replaced at higher elevations by its relative, the volcano hummingbird, ''S. flammula''. Habitat It inhabits brushy fo ...

''Selasphorus ardens'' :

Glow-throated hummingbird The glow-throated hummingbird (''Selasphorus ardens'') is an Endangered species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is endemic to a small area of Panama.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ...

''Selasphorus flammula'' :

Volcano hummingbird The volcano hummingbird (''Selasphorus flammula'') is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the ...

On a geographic scale, the genus ''

'' can be subdivided into 2 groups of

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, one living in North America, and a second in the region of Costa Rica and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

Habitat and distribution

Habitat

This hummingbird is seen in the

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

or under tree canopies of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

. It forages in open areas with flowers or in grasslands among trees and shrubs. Its breeding habitat is mainly in

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artificia ...

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

valleys, and stands of

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

or spruce.

Distribution

The broad-tailed hummingbird is found from Guatemala to

, and

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

and

during summer, while wintering regions are mainly in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Migration

This species exhibits partial

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

, depending on the northern range during winter. The specific migratory route used by the broad-tailed hummingbird remains unknown, although migrating populations winter in southern

or Guatemala and return to their breeding area in spring. Males arrive first to the breeding range, followed by breeding females. Some populations of the