Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Selasphorus platycercus

Summary 5

The Broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) is a medium-sized hummingbird, nearly 4 in (10 cm) in length.

Description and cool facts 6

A hummingbird of subalpine meadows, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird ranges across the south-central Rockies in summer. It possesses a number of physiological and behavioral adaptations to survive cold nights, including the ability to enter torpor, slowing its heart rate and dropping its body temperature.
The Broad-tailed Hummingbird enters torpor, a slowed metabolic state, on cold nights. It maintains a body temperature of about 12.2°C (54°F) when ambient temperatures fall below 10°C (44°F).
In some areas of Broad-tailed Hummingbird breeding habitat, cold air descends into valleys at night, with warmer areas upslope. This phenomenon is called a thermal inversion. The male Broad-tailed Hummingbird, which does not attend the nest, goes upslope at night to conserve heat, reducing the energy costs of thermoregulation by about 15 percent.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Chuck Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/colorob/6062736832/
  2. (c) Alfonso Gutiérrez Aldana, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Alfonso Gutiérrez Aldana
  3. (c) jorlicon, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  4. (c) Flickr, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8395/8692205081_30856629e5_o.jpg
  5. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selasphorus_platycercus
  6. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/27491211

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