Broad-billed Hummingbird

Table

Broad-billed Hummingbird – Accepted
1. 10 Nov 1961–mid Mar 1962	AHY	San Diego SD	1985-032	10
2. 14 Oct 1962	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1985-031/1986-103	10
3. 02 Jan–mid Feb 1964	ASY	Redlands SBE	1985-033	10	ph., McCaskie (1970d)
4. 21 Jan–18 Feb 1976	ASY	Glendale LA	1976-040	3	ph.
5. 16 Jan–10 Feb 1977	SY	Agua Caliente Springs SD	1977-006	4	Roberson (1980)
6. 20–23 Sep 1977	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1978-054	5
7. 09 Dec 1977–25 Jan 1978	AHY	Marina del Rey LA	1978-084	5
8. 16–17 Sep 1978	AHY	Pt. Mugu VEN	1987-150	14
9. 01 Nov–30 Dec 1978	AHY	West Los Angeles LA	1980-058	6
10. 12–29 Jan 1979	ASY	Riverside RIV	1980-040	6
11. 28 Sep–30 Nov 1979	HY	River Bend RIV	1988-084	14	ph.
12. 09–14 Oct 1979	HY	Santa Barbara SBA	1980-041	6	ph., AB 34:202
13. 10 Oct 1979–03 Feb 1980		Gaviota SBA	1980-042	6	ph., Roberson (1980)
14. 28 Nov 1979–29 Feb 1980	AHY	Balboa Park SD	1980-043	6
and 30 Nov 1980–14 Jan 1981			1980-240	7
and 20–21 Nov 1981			1980-241	7
and 18 Dec 1982–05 Jan 1983			1983-002	7,11	ph.
and 01 Dec 1985–05 Jan 1986			1986-023	11
15. 21 Dec 1979–17 Feb 1980	AHY	Ventura VEN	1980-044	6
16. 04 Oct 1981–13 Feb 1982	AHY	Blythe RIV	1982-007	7	ph.
17. 08–09 Oct 1981		Tijuana R. valley SD	1981-082	7
18. early Jan–09 Mar 1982	SY	Fremont ALA	1982-047	8	ph.
19. 18 Apr 1982		Short Canyon KER	1983-012	8
20. 29–30 Sep 1982	AHY	Irvine ORA	1988-194	13
21. 13–17 Oct 1982	AHY	Santa Barbara SBA	1982-101	8	ph.
22. 10 Jan–15 Feb 1983	SY	Santa Barbara SBA	1983-029	8	ph.
and 26 Oct 1983–07 Feb 1984			1984-052	10
23. 09–11 Sep 1983	HY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1984-058	9
24. 06–17 Nov 1983	HY	Brentwood LA	1983-119	9
25. 31 Dec 1983–18 Jan 1984		Goleta SBA	1984-053	9
26. 29 Sep–02 Oct 1984	HY	Carmel R. mouth MTY	1984-229	10	ph., Roberson (1985)
27. 16–25 Oct 1985	HY	Goleta SBA	1985-168	11	ph.
28. 03–05 Nov 1985	AHY	San Marcos Pass SBA	1985-169	11	ph.
29. 11 Jan–28 Feb 1986	SY	Coronado SD	1986-026	11
30. 27 Jan–22 Feb 1986	SY	Goleta SBA	1986-074	11	ph.
31. 19 Oct 1986	HY	Año Nuevo State Reserve SM	1986-424	12
32. 22 Nov 1987–04 Mar 1988	HY	Ventura VEN	1988-045	13	ph.
33. 30 Nov–12 Dec 1987	HY	Mission Viejo ORA	1988-050	13
34. 31 Jan–04 Mar 1988		Ventura VEN	1988-072	13
35. 11 Feb 1991		Orange ORA	1991-068	16
36. 11–14 Sep 1992	HY	Lone Pine INY	1992-299	18	ph.
37. 03 Jan 1993	SY	Los Angeles LA	1993-075	19
38. 06–22 Sep 1993	HY	Goleta SBA	1993-159	19	ph.
39. 08–13 Oct 1993	HY	Fairhaven HUM	1994-063	19	ph., AB 48:149
40. 24 Oct 1993–? Feb 1994		Palos Verdes Peninsula LA	1994-054	19	ph.
41. 12 Nov 1993–14 Feb 1994	AHY	Camarillo VEN	1993-197	19	ph.
and 09 Oct 1994–05 Feb 1995			1995-008	20	see also record not submitted
42. 23 Nov 1993–14 Feb 1994		Camarillo VEN	1993-198	19	ph.
43. 02 Dec 1993–? Feb 1994		Palos Verdes Peninsula LA	1994-054	19
44. 01 Jan 1994		Goleta SBA	1994-011	20
45. 29 Oct–05 Nov 1994	HY	Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1994-161	20	ph.
46. 25 Dec 1994–28 Jan 1995		Goleta SBA	1995-007	20
47. 15–22 Nov 1995	AHY	Santa Barbara SBA	1996-047	22	ph.
48. 16 Nov 1995	AHY	Pismo Beach SLO	1996-048	22
49. 14 Jan 1996	SY	Santa Rosa SON	1996-062	22	ph., see also record not submitted
50. 20–21 Oct 1996	HY	Desert Center RIV	1996-153	22
51. 14 Sep 1997	HY	Centerville Beach HUM	2003-032	28	Fig. 239, ph., FN 52:122
52. 01–04 Oct 1997	HY	Weldon KER	1997-209	23	ph., Rottenborn & Morlan (2000)
53. 05–08 Oct 1997	AHY	Tijuana R. valley SD	1997-162	23
54. 05–10 Jan 1998		San Elijo Lagoon SD	1998-027	24
55. 28 Nov 1998–1 Mar 1999		Goleta SBA	1999-062	24
56. 04 Sep 1999	AHY	Big River SBE	1999-150	25
57. 12 Dec 1999–10 Mar 2000		Otay Lakes SD	2001-145	26
58. 22 Oct 2001		Pt. Loma SD	2001-215	27
59. 08–21 Sep 2002		Claremont LA	2002-172	28
60. 26 Jul 2003	HY	Morongo Valley SBE	2003-096	29	ph.
61. 13–27 Nov 2003	AHY	Sonoma SON	2003-162	29	ph., video, NAB 58:139; see also Appendix H
Broad-billed Hummingbird – Not accepted, identification not established
08 Oct 1967		Pt. Pinos MTY	1977-056	6
21 Apr 1969		Pacific Grove MTY	1984-228	10
13 Apr 1974		Joshua Tree NP RIV/SBE	1982-042	8
20 Sep 1978		Santa Barbara SBA	1987-223	15
05 Oct–08 Nov 1985		Santa Cruz SCZ	1986-360	12	ph., possible hybrid
and 15 Jun–27 Aug 1986
18 Aug 1986		Santa Cruz SCZ	1986-361	12	possible hybrid
23–24 Sep 1986		Oceanside SD	1987-043	13
04 May 1991		Tijuana R. valley SD	1991-094	17
01 Nov 1994		Huntington Beach ORA	1995-006	23
23–24 Sep 1996		Westchester LA	1997-018	23
Broad-billed Hummingbird – Not submitted
09 Nov 1963	2	Tijuana R. valley SD			McCaskie (1970d), Garrett & Dunn (1981), Unitt (2004)
27 Dec 1964		San Bernardino SBE			AFN 19:333
02 Jan 1967		San Bernardino SBE			AFN 21:376
Dec 1975–Feb 1976		Blythe RIV			Rosenberg et al. (1991)
08–10 Mar 1979		Spring Valley SD		14	Unitt (2004)
24 Sep 1979		Cabazon RIV		14	AB 34:202
15–21 Mar 1982		Agua Caliente Springs SD			Unitt (2004)
18 Dec 1982–15 Jan 1983		Rancho Santa Fe SD			Unitt (2004)
24–27 Apr 1983		Chimney Creek KER		14	AB 37:913
05 Sep 1992		Fair Oaks SAC			AB 47:145
early Dec 1993		Sylmar LA			FN 48:248
14 Oct 1995		Irvine ORA			FN 50:115
14 Oct–17 Dec 1995		Camarillo VEN			FN 50:116, 855; see table entry 41
and 16 Dec 1996					FN 51:802
02 Mar 1996		Santa Rosa SON			Parmeter (2000), see table entry 49

Figures

Figure 239. None of the hummingbirds occurring regularly in California has the breast solid green. Among strays that can show this plumage pattern (in adult plumage), the Broad-billed Hummingbird is by far the species most often encountered. This first-fall male—just starting to turn blue on the throat and green on the belly—was photographed at Centerville Beach, Humboldt County, 14 September 1997 (2003-032; Sean McAllister).

Figure 334. Distribution of 61 Broad-billed Hummingbirds accepted through 2003, showing the concentration on the southern coast.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD Cynanthus latirostris Swainson, 1827

Accepted: 61 (86%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 10	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 15	Large color images: see Figures and H-24

This hummingbird’s subspecies have been treated as up to three species. The latirostris group breeds from southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico south through western and central Mexico. This group’s northern component, C. l. magicus, is migratory, and most birds withdraw in winter to the southern part of the species’ range. Lawrence’s Hummingbird, C. l. lawrencei, is resident on the Islas Tres Marías of west Mexico; Doubleday’s Hummingbird, C. l. doubledayi, is resident in coastal southwestern Mexico. The species is a vagrant to the Baja California Peninsula and has wandered widely across North America, having reached Oregon, Idaho (NAB 58:403, 462), Utah, Kansas (NAB 59:105, 190), Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, New Brunswick, North and South Carolina, Florida (NAB 59:92), and many locations in between (e.g., Williamson 2001, Sibley 2003a).

Sight records of male Broad-billed Hummingbirds in San Diego County—one each in 1961 and 1962—were California’s first (McCaskie 1970d). Most records come from the southern coast (Figure 334). Males furnished the first 12 records and through 1993 accounted for 86% (37 of 43), but from 1994 to 2003 this share dropped to 67% (12 of 18 records). Also of interest, and perhaps somehow related, males account for 26 of 28 records of fall vagrants (defined here as birds that arrived before December and remained less than two weeks) but only 20 of 31 records of wintering birds. Fall vagrants have been chanced upon as early as 4 September, but wintering birds are seldom detected before late November. Only two have been found between 11 March and 3 September: a male on 18 April 1982 in Short Canyon, Kern County, and a first-year male banded on 26 July 2003 in Morongo Valley, San Bernardino County. See also Appendix H.

This species and the Manx Shearwater are the only ones documented in California more than 50 times without a specimen record. The few birds that have been carefully studied or photographed with adequate detail showed characters consistent with magicus (the only subspecies known to have occurred in the United States). Two red-billed hummingbirds present during 1985 and 1986 in Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, may have been Broad-billed hybrids, with the other parent species unknown (Langham 1991).

The overall pattern of northward dispersal in fall and winter of subtropical hummingbirds, including both first-year birds and adults, is nothing short of remarkable (see Patten 1998). The Broad-billed is perhaps the quintessential species exhibiting this tendency, although the Green Violet-ear (Colibri thalassinus) could also legitimately make this claim, considering records from Colorado (twice, NAB 58:222), Wisconsin (NAB 53:56, 117), Michigan (twice, NAB 57:62), Ontario, Ohio (NAB 60:69, 173), West Virginia (NAB 57:489), and New Jersey (NAB 60:47, 172), with many more extralimital records to the south. Note, however, that some hummers have become more frequent in captivity, complicating attempts to judge natural occurrence and increasing the potential for misidentifying vagrants, for example, mistaking an escaped Sparkling Violet-ear (C. coruscans) for the similar Green Violet-ear (Patten 1998).

Hummingbird movements are difficult to document (but see Phillips 1975), in part because flowers are a transient and often erratic resource. Whether any of these northward dispersants return to Mexico is unknown, but note that Colorado’s first and third Broad-billed Hummingbirds—an adult female present from “mid-summer” through 22 December 2002 and an adult male captured on 13 April 2006—both had been banded the previous winters in Louisiana (NAB 57:90, 230; 60:407)!

[WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD Hylocharis leucotis (Vieillot, 1818) – see hypothetical section]