Magnificent Hummingbirds

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The Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens) - also known as Refulgent Hummingbird - is named for its spectacular iridescent plumage. Until the mid-1980s, it was referred to as Rivoli's Hummingbird.

It is the second largest hummingbird north of Mexico. Only the Blue-throated Hummingbird is larger.

The Magnificent Hummingbird occurs in mountains from the southwestern United States to western Panama.

They are known to be very friendly, often remaining close to humans within their feeding habitat.

Alternate (Global) Names

Spanish: Colibrí Gorrivioláceo, Colibri Magnífico, Colibrí Magnifico, Colibrí Magnífico ... Italian: Colibrì magn, Colibrì magnificente ... French: Colibri à poitrine noire, Colibri de Rivoli, Colibri magnifique ... Czech: Kolibrík skvostný, kolibřík skvostný ... Danish: Purpurisset Kolibri ... German: Dickschnabelkolibri, Dickschnabel-Kolibri, Violettkron-Brilliantkolibri ... Finnish: Huppukolibri ... Dutch: Rivolikolibrie, Rivoli-kolibrie, Rivoli's Kolibrie ... Norwegian: Purpurissekolibri ... Polish: ametyscik, ametyścik, Ametyścik cienkodzioby ... Slovak: medovec tmavobruchý ... Swedish: Rivolikolibri ... Russian: Колибри-герцог.. Japanese: aonodohachidori, アオノドハチドリ ... Chinese: 大蜂鸟

Subspecies & Ranges

Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens fulgens, Swainson, 1827) - Nominate race

• Found in southwestern USA (mostly southeastern Arizona; to a lesser degree southwestern New Mexico, Colorado, southwestern Texas and Arkansas). Some occur as far west as California and as far east as Alabama and Florida. They range south through most of Mexico to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and northeastern Nicaragua.

Eugenes fulgens spectabilis (Lawrence, 1867) - sometimes separated from the larger nominate race as Rivoli’s Hummingbird, E. spectabilis.

• Found in the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.

Distribution / Range

In the United States, the Magnificent Hummingbirds are found in highest concentrations in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. They are only rare vagrants elsewhere in the United States.

Specifically they have been observed in the following U.S. states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

They breed in mountainous areas in the southwestern United States and winter in Mexico through to western Panama. They are common residents in the higher elevation mountains of Costa Rica.

Their habitat includes humid montane oak forest from about 2000 m (~ 6 560 feet) to the timberline. They are typically found along the edge and in clearings, but also occur on pastures, open woodland, and scrubby areas.

Description:

Size: The Magnificent Hummingbird's length ranges from 4.3–5.5 inches (11–14 cm), with an average weight of 0.2–0.3 oz (7–8 g). Their wingspan is about 7.1 inches (18 cm).

Common Physical Traits: The upper plumage is blackish-green. Both sexes look very dark unless the sun catches the iridescence of the plumage. They have a distinctive white spot behind each eye. The black bill is long, thin and slightly curved.

The male can easily be identified by his iridescent bright blue-green gorget (throat patch). His upper plumage is glossy bronze-green above, turning more bronzed towards his tail. He has a green-bronze chest, greyish abdomen and undertail feathers. His head is black, except for the violet crown (top of head) and white stripes behind the eyes. His black tail is forked.

The male's iridescent crown and throat patch are only visible at certain angles and in bright light; in poor light, he may appear to have a drab, blackish head.

The female's upper plumage is bronze-green and her under parts a dull grey. She has a grey throat with faint streaking. Her dark rounded tail has greyish-white tips. Like the male, she has white stripes behind the eyes.

Juveniles look like females, except their plumage is duller and more brown.

Similar species: The female resembles the female Blue-throated Hummingbird; except she lacks the large white tail tips and white cheek streak. She can be differentiated from other hummingbird species by her larger size.

Nesting / Breeding

Hummingbirds are solitary in all aspects of life other than breeding; and the male's only involvement in the reproductive process is the actual mating with the female. They neither live nor migrate in flocks; and there is no pair bond for this species. Males court females by flying in a u-shaped pattern in front of them. He will separate from the female immediately after copulation. One male may mate with several females. In all likelihood, the female will also mate with several males. The males do not participate in choosing the nest location, building the nest or raising the chicks.

The female Magnificent Hummingbird is responsible for building the cup-shaped nest out of plant fibers woven together and green moss on the outside for camouflage in a protected location in a shrub, bush or tree about 3m above ground often near the tip of a descending bamboo stem.

She lines the nest with soft plant fibers, animal hair and feather down, and strengthens the structure with spider webbing and other sticky material, giving it an elastic quality to allow it to stretch to double its size as the chicks grow and need more room. The nest is typically found on a low, thin horizontal branch.

The average clutch consists of two to three white eggs, which she incubates alone for about 15 - 19 days, while the male defends his territory and the flowers he feeds on.

The young are born blind, immobile and without any down.

The female alone protects and feeds the chicks with regurgitated food (mostly partially-digested insects since nectar is an insufficient source of protein for the growing chicks). The hummingbird mother pushes the food down the chicks' throats with her long bill directly into their stomachs.

As is the case with other hummingbird species, the chicks are brooded only the first week or two, and left alone even on cooler nights after about 12 days - probably due to the small nest size. The chicks leave the nest when they are about 20 - 26 days old.

Diet / Feeding

The Magnificent Hummingbirds primarily feed on nectar taken from a variety of brightly colored, scented small flowers of trees, shrubs and epiphytes. They favor flowers with the highest sugar content (often red-colored and tubular-shaped) and seek out, and aggressively protect, those areas containing flowers with high energy nectar. They use their long, extendible, straw-like tongues to retrieve the nectar while hovering with their tails cocked upward as they are licking at the nectar up to 13 times per second. Sometimes they may be seen hanging on the flower while feeding.

Many native and cultivated plants on whose flowers hummingbirds feed heavily rely on them for pollination. The mostly tubular-shaped flowers actually exclude most bees and butterflies from feeding on them and, subsequently, from pollinating the plants.

In winter, when flowering plants may not be readily available, they may drink the sap from holes created by sapsuckers, as a substitute for nectar. They may also visit local hummingbird feeders for some sugar water, or drink out of bird baths or water fountains where they will either hover and sip water as it runs over the edge; or they will perch on the edge and drink - like all the other birds; however, they only remain still for a short moment.

They also take some small spiders and insects - important sources of protein particularly needed during the breeding season to ensure the proper development of their young. Insects are often caught in flight (hawking); snatched off leaves or branches, or are taken from spider webs. A nesting female hummingbird can capture up to 2,000 insects a day.

Males establish feeding territories, where they aggressively chase away other male hummingbirds as well as large insects - such as bumblebees and hawk moths - that want to feed in their territory. They use aerial flights and intimidating displays to defend their territories.

Hummingbird Metabolism and Survival & Flight Adaption - Interesting Information

With the exception of insects, hummingbirds have the highest  metabolism rate of any animal on earth (high breathing rate, high heart rate, high body temperature).

Because of their "extreme" metabolism, the active hummingbirds require frequent feedings throughout the day - every ten to fifteen minutes and potentially visiting 1,000 flowers a day, lapping up nectar at the rate of 13 licks per second. They have to eat up to half of its body mass and drink roughly eight times its body mass each day. In preparation for an impending migration, hummingbirds may consume 3 up to 10 times their body weight in food - about 14,000 calories per kilogram - per day. (Humans consume, on average, 26 calories per kilogram per day). Before migration, hummingbirds will almost double their weight as they store up fat to serve as fuel and hence increasing their potential flying time.

The hummingbird has the largest heart in proportion to its body - and has the highest heartbeat rate. Their hearts pump about 1,200 times per minute in flight and 200 beats per minute at rest– making it the fastest beating heart of all animals - except for the pygmy shrew with a recorded heartbeat of up to 1511 times per minute. (A shrew is a small animal that resembles a mouse – it occurs in Asia.) Their wings beat seventy times each second; and their hovering flight used by them to gather nectar requires staggering amounts of energy. Their daytime body temperature ranges from 105° to 108°F (40.5° to 42.2°C).

To conserve energy at night when they are not feeding, their bodies go into a state of torpor (temporary or semi-hibernation). During this time the hummingbird's body temperature drops down dramatically from its daytime temperature of about 105° (40.5°C) to 19 °C (66 °F) and the heart rate slows down from about 200 (average daytime resting heart rate per minute)to 50 - 180 beats per minute. Hummingbirds may even stop breathing for periods of time. This allows hummingbirds to use up to 50 times less energy than they would need during their daytime activities. During this time, the hummingbirds cling to a branch and sit almost lifeless; sometimes their feet (which are known to be quite weak) will loosen their grasp enough to swing downwards and hummingbirds remain hanging upside down on the branch until the next morning or until they become alert when approached. People may even find semiconscious hummingbirds on branches, window sills or in garages, and when picked up, the warmth of hands is often enough to revive them, and they will buzz off in perfect health. This so-called "suspended animation" also enables hummingbirds to survive cold nights or any time that food might be scarce. At sunrise, the body temperature goes back up (which can take a few minutes up to an hour), and they will resume their normal activities - typically feeding before doing anything else. However, whether or not hummingbirds become torpid depends on their diet, health and type of activity they are engaged in (Long, 1997). For example, nesting female hummingbirds do not enter torpidity when incubating eggs as they need body heat to keep the eggs warm.

Unique flight abilities: Hummingbirds have skeletal and flight muscle adaptations that allow them to rotate their wings almost 180° - enabling them to fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways, even upside down. They can also remain still in space by moving their wings in a figure-eight pattern enabling them to remain stationary in the air - hovering in front of flowers as they feed on nectar. In fact, hummingbirds are more maneuverable than helicopters. Their normal flight speed is 30 mph (48 km/h), but they can reach 50 mph (80 km/h) during an escape or chase and even 63 mph (101 km/h) during a dive. Hummingbirds also spend a higher percentage of their lives flying than any other species. All of this is amazing particularly considering that these tiny birds weigh as little as a penny.

Hummingbirds are named for the audible low-pitched humming sound made in flight. This humming sound is made by the wings, and the sounds differ depending on how fast the hummingbird beats its wings. Each hummingbird species generates a different humming sound in flight.

Call / Song:

The Magnificent Hummingbird's call is described as drrrk with a harsh grating quality.

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