Lucifer Hummingbird

Maximum longevity: 4.1 years (wild)

The habitats frequented by the lucifer hummingbird (arid, rugged areas) may help to lessen the impact of humans on hummingbird populations. Information on the past abundance of the Lucifer hummingbird and its present status is lacking.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

The lucifer hummingbird is medium-sized with fairly small wings, a long bill, and a deeply forked tail. The male hummingbird has a green forehead and purple iridescence along the sides of its neck, which is bordered by white on both sides. The female has an unusually curved bill, no iridescense, and is light brown around the breast and throat areas.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry

Range lifespan
Status: wild: 4.1 (high) years.

Average lifespan
Status: wild: 49 months.

Habitats vary widely depending on the geographic location. The Lucifer hummingbird can be found in the plains, foothills, and on the sides of rocky hillsides throughout its range.

Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; chaparral ; scrub forest

The Lucifer Hummingbird is found primarily in central and northern Mexico. It is occasionally found as far north as southeast Arizona, southwest New Mexico, and west Texas.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

The main sources of food for Lucifer hummingbirds include spiders, small insects (primarily flies), and nectar from various plant species. They take nectar from the flower tube while hovering, rather than by cutting the base or side of the stem. While defending nectar plants, Lucifers will sometimes capture small insects for food. This usually occurs during the early morning hours (8 am to 11 am). In one study, the hummingbirds made as many as 200 flycatching flights in the first hour (8-9 am) and as few as 13 in the third hour (11-12 am). This is probably because the insects are both more visible and more abundant in the early morning light. The female forages for spiders to feed their young.

During the nineteenth century, the Lucifer hummingbird was captured to be stuffed and mounted, or sold alive. Members of this species may play a role in the pollination biology of some species of plants.

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical

Mating displays among Lucifer hummingbirds are unique. While other hummingbird species perform flight displays away from nesting sites, the Lucifer hummingbird displays at the nests of females during nestbuilding and egg-laying. The reasons for this behavior are unknown.

Lucifer hummingbirds do not form pair bonds and are probably polygamous, although the male does display with a mating dance at nests. Most displays occur during nestbuilding and egglaying. Display consists of the male flying back and forth between two perches, a vertical flight followed by a powerful spiraling dive towards the female, ending with erratic lateral flight. Copulation has yet to be observed. Breeding season is known to last from April to August.

Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous

The tiny, vividly purple-throated Lucifer Hummingbird is mainly a species of northern Mexico and central Mexico. Where it reaches the United States, in extreme southern Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas, it's a highly sought-after species among avid birders. Lucifer Hummingbird belongs to a group of hummingbird species called “sheartails,” named for their deeply forked, narrow tail.

Unlike other hummingbirds, which perform courtship displays near feeding areas, perches, or special sites for group displays, the male Lucifer Hummingbird performs its displays at the nest of a female.

Lucifer Hummingbirds eat mainly nectar from agave, penstemon, and a shrub known as anisacanth, as well as paintbrushes, willow, trumpet flower, and cholla. They derive little nectar from ocotillos because of competition with carpenter bees, which pierce the flowers and steal the nectar from the bases. Lucifer Hummingbirds themselves "thieve" nectar from agaves. The plants are adapted to be pollinated by bats; when Lucifer Hummingbirds visit agaves they are too small to pick up pollen from the flower, so they get the nectar without providing a pollination service to the plant. Lucifer Hummingbirds also eat insects and spiders and especially offer these protein-rich foods to their young.

Lucifer Hummingbirds have a typical hummingbird flight style—hovering to feed from flowers, darting into the air to catch insects, and zooming in straight lines from place to place. Males defend patches of flowers from males, other females, and intruding Black-chinned Hummingbirds by chattering at and chasing them. Females defend nest sites in a similar manner, including against Scott's Orioles and Loggerhead Shrikes. When females are building nests, male Lucifer Hummingbirds display to them, though they do not actually form pair bonds and are quite likely polygamous. Displays consist of approaching the female, shuttling quickly back and forth in 6-foot-wide horizontal movements in front of her, followed by an ascent to as high as 100 feet and a sudden dive in front of her. During the approach, the wings or tail make a rapid flicking sound; as the male flies away he spreads his forked tail and makes a different wack-wack-wack sound with his tail. The display lasts 30 to 45 seconds and may be given up to 5 times in an hour.

Size & Shape The Lucifer Hummingbird's most distinctive features are its curved bill and narrow, forked tail. The large head and heavy, downcurved bill seemingly overbalance this bird's small, tapered body. The tail is very long and narrow, extending well beyond the wingtips. Color Pattern Adult males have a green back with a purple gorget that looks dark when it’s not catching the light. The breast is dingy and whitish. Females are warm buffy below with green backs. Their cinnamon wash is particularly intense on the breast and throat. Overall, females are buffier below than other similar species of hummingbirds. Immature males show a few spots of purple on the throat in the late summer. Behavior Lucifer Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of flowering desert plants and sugar solution in hummingbird feeders. They are particularly fond of agave flowers when they are available. They will come into feeders, but they have a low rank among the other species and are often chased off by other hummers. Habitat Look for Lucifer Hummingbirds in dry canyons and hillsides of desert habitats with ocotillo and century plant. Lucifer Hummingbirds are most frequently sighted in the summer in Ash Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, southeast Arizona, or near Portal, Arizona. The species also breeds in Texas, in Big Bend National Park and in the Davis Mountains. Your best bet for finding one on your own is to watch flowering agaves in Big Bend National Park.

Nest Description The female builds the nest over a period of 10 days to 2 weeks, gathering material from about a 330-foot radius and occasionally stealing material from other Lucifer Hummingbird nests. The nest is a cup about 1.8 inches across and 2.2 inches tall. The walls are made of plant fibers including oak catkins, flower down, dried grass, twigs. The outsides are decorated with lichens and small leaves. Nest Placement - Shrub Female Lucifer Hummingbirds build nests on cholla, ocotillo, or lechuguilla plants on steep, dry, rocky slopes. Nests are typically placed 2-10 feet above the ground on the horizontal branch of a cholla, amid ocotillo leaves, or on dead fruiting stalks of lechuguilla. Sometimes built on top of a nest from the previous year.

In the U.S., Lucifer Hummingbirds occur from March to September, mostly in Chihuahuan desert foothills at elevations of about 3,500–5,500 feet. Here they occur in canyons, dry washes, and scrub with agave, ocotillo, cholla, sotol shrubs and cacti. In winter these birds migrate to central Mexico, where they live in similar scrubby habitats or in pine-oak woodland or tropical deciduous forest canyons.

The lucifer sheartail or lucifer hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer) is a medium-sized, 10 cm long, green hummingbird with a slightly curved bill and distinctive outward flare of its gorget feathers. Its habitat is in high-altitude areas of northern Mexico and southwestern United States. It winters in central Mexico.