Essay by Ella Sorensen
There is something so familiar and unique about a hummingbird, that scarce exists the human who cannot instantly recognize it as a hummingbird when spying a tiny shape, darting between flowers, hovering briefly, probing into the flower with its long needle-like bill before zipping onto the next blossom or returning to perch on a near-by branch.
Hummingbirds occur only in the Western Hemisphere. The range of the Black-chinned Hummingbird includes mostly the western US and much of central and northern Mexico. There is a suggestion that after nesting at lower elevations, some follow the emerging flowers upward as spring and summer march up the mountains before the birds depart for winter mostly in Mexico.
Adult male hummingbirds usually come adorned with brilliant iridescent chin feathers often of red, orange, or pink coloration called a gorget. When the gorget briefly catches sunlight, it glistens and glows like an ember. But typically, as the bird darts about or sits on a perch, the gorget appears wholly black. As its name implies, the gorget of the Black-chinned hummingbird is actually black. Only a small band of iridescent purple feathers form a small strip at the base. Females and juveniles display dull colors of green, white, and gray and can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from other non-adult male hummingbird species.
Unlike many bird species whose preferred habitat correlates with elevation or inches of rain, the key to productive hummingbird habitat is simply the abundance of flower nectar for energy, insects for protein and other food essentials, and tall trees or shrubs for nesting and perching. The Black-chinned hummingbird is a habitat generalist. In Utah, it nests commonly in deserts, mountain forests, and even in urban settings.