Calliope Hummingbird

The smallest bird north of Mexico — about 2.8 grams, lighter than a ping-pong ball — yet it breeds in chilly Rocky Mountain meadows and migrates thousands of miles to southern Mexico. Pound for pound, arguably the toughest bird on the continent.

Range

Breeds in mountain meadows of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies: the Cascades and Sierra, Idaho, western Montana, and ranges into Wyoming, Utah, and British Columbia. Winters in southwestern Mexico.

Migration timing

Arrives in the Northwest mountains from mid-April into May. Like the Rufous it loops: south through the Rockies from July, mostly gone by mid-September. Rare but annual in the Southeast in late fall.

How to identify one

• Male: unique gorget of separate magenta rays streaking down a white throat, like painted whiskers
• Female: tiny, short-billed and short-tailed, peachy wash below
• Smallest common feeder bird — hovers with wings blurring even faster than its cousins

At the feeder

Easily bullied, so it feeds at the margins: a Calliope will often work a feeder's far port or wait for a gap in a Rufous patrol. A second feeder placed low and out of the main sightline is a Calliope magnet in mountain country.

Where to find the Calliope Hummingbird

FeederDates › Hummingbirds › Species › Calliope Hummingbird