Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri)

Archilochus alexandri

Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri)
Location: near Tucson, Arizona, USA

In February of 2008, I went to Arizona with some friends.  One place we visited together was the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, outside of Tucson.   It was a nature photographer's paradise.

One of the excellent displays at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a hummingbird aviary in the form of a large screen house filled with trees and other plants to form a hummingbird-friendly habitat.   The hummingbirds fly freely within the aviary.   Visitors can enter the aviary and walk around among the trees and birds.

We saw several species of hummingbirds in the aviary, including a few that were actively nesting.  The one in this photo is a Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri).   I think it's a female, because the male of the species has a black patch on its throat, giving rise to the common name.

These cute little birds are less than four inches long.  Their natural home is southern Arizona and northern Mexico.

4 comments:

kml said...

She is so sweet! It must have been quite a treat to walk around with them not being overly fearful. Great photo Bobbie!

BNS said...

Thanks, Kathy. Yes, I could have stayed all day inside that aviary, but there were a lot of other things to see at the Desert Museum, too.

Bobbie

Anonymous said...

Love this shot! The colors are superb, I like the way the bird's colors blend well with the background ... nicely done....

BNS said...

Thank you, Dale.