7 Hummingbird Species Found in Canada (2023)
What types of hummingbirds can you find in Canada?
Hummingbirds are one of the most popular birds in Canada and have captivated people’s interest and attention for a long time. But because hummingbirds are incredibly fast and small, these birds can be hard to distinguish from each other. Most of the time, they just look like little green, iridescent blurs streaking by your face!
Today, you will learn SEVEN types of hummingbirds found in Canada.
The species below were chosen because they are most common in Canada. Each description includes identification tips, pictures, *range maps, fun facts, AND how to attract these beautiful birds to your yard!
#1: Ruby-throated Hummingbird
How To Identify:
- Males: Medium-sized hummingbird with a bright red throat and a black chin and mask that extends behind the eyes. The top of their head and back are iridescent green. Underparts are pale grey with a green wash on the sides of their belly.
- Females: Duller than males. The chin and throat are white with pale green streaks. Their face lacks the black chin and red throat of the male. Their belly is mostly white with buffy flanks, and the back is green.
- *Similar Species: Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, which have a duller red throat and lack a black chin. These two species have ranges that do not overlap.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are common in Canada during summer.
Once cooler temperatures start to arrive, these birds migrate to Mexico. Amazingly, most individuals travel ACROSS the Gulf of Mexico to reach their wintering grounds. Remember, they must make this incredibly long journey in a single flight, as there is nowhere to stop and rest. 🙂
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Range Map
How do you attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in Canada?
There are many ways to draw these winged beauties to your yard. But the two BEST strategies are to hang a nectar feeder full of fresh sugar water and then to make sure you plant as many long, tubular flowers as possible.
Look for RED flowers, because hummingbirds are naturally attracted to this color. Also, long, tubular flowers are great for hummingbirds because they can access the nectar with their long beaks and tongues, but bees and other insects can’t!
What sounds do Ruby-throated Hummingbirds make?
Press PLAY above to hear the sound these birds make!
Believe it or not, these hummingbirds do make distinctive noises. The sounds that I most often hear are a series of calls seem to be given as individuals are chasing each other around. It resembles a chattering “chee-dit.”
Fun Facts:
- Their legs are so short they are unable to walk or hop! If needed, they can sort of shuffle and scoot down a branch.
- These hummingbirds can beat their wings up to 53 times per SECOND!
#2: Rufous Hummingbird
How To Identify:
- Males: Bright copper-orange on their back (although some males have a green back) and sides of their belly. Beautiful reddish-orange iridescent throat. White breast and ear patch behind eye. Compared to other hummingbird species, they are small.
- Females: They have a green crown, neck, and back. Rufous (copper) colored sides with a white breast and belly. Some females have a spot of red or orange on their throat.
- *Similar Species: Allen’s Hummingbird, which has slightly more green on their crown and back. Allen’s also has narrower outer tail feathers and a slightly downward-curved bill. Females of these two species are incredibly hard to tell apart.
Rufous Hummingbirds have an interesting migration pattern. In the spring, they fly north up the Pacific Coast to their summer breeding grounds. They return to their winter homes in Mexico and parts of the southern United States by flying a completely different route along the Rocky Mountains!
Rufous Hummingbird Range Map
Rufous Hummingbirds are the most aggressive hummingbird in the USA!
Be careful if one finds your hummingbird feeders or garden, as they will relentlessly attack and drive away other hummingbirds (including much larger species) away. They have even been seen chasing chipmunks!
If an aggressive Rufous Hummingbird has taken over your hummingbird feeder, you have a few options to help alleviate the pressure. My favorite strategy is setting up multiple feeders around your entire yard. The farther you can place them apart, the better! There is no way your problem bird can defend all the feeding stations at once, ensuring that other individuals get a chance to eat. 🙂
What sounds do Rufous Hummingbirds make?
The most common sound you will hear these birds make is a series of chipping notes, which are given as a warning to intruding birds. Males also make a “chu-chu-chu” call at the bottom of a dive while trying to impress females.
Fun Facts:
- They have one of the longest migrations of any bird in the world, which is incredible given their small size (roughly 3 inches)! A one-way journey from Mexico to Alaska is about 3,900 miles (6,275 km), and remember they make this trip twice a year.
- They build their nests with soft plant down held together with spider webs. Like other hummingbird species, females prefer lichen, bark, and moss as camouflage.
- In addition to drinking nectar from plants, these birds enjoy hunting gnats, midges, and flies in the air, while plucking aphids from leaves.
#3: Black-chinned Hummingbird
How To Identify:
- Males: A medium-sized hummingbird with a metallic green body with a white breast and greenish flanks. Their head appears black overall, but their crown is actually very dark green, and their lower throat is iridescent violet. You typically can’t see the strip of purple unless the light hits it just right. Look for a white spot behind their eyes.
- Females: Have a greenish-grey cap on their heads and a green back. There is a white spot behind their eyes, similar to the males. Females have a dark-spotted grey throat and a white breast.
- *Similar Species: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which has a greener crown, shorter bill, and red throat. But these two hummingbirds have ranges that are incredibly different, so you shouldn’t mix them up.
I will never forget the first time I saw this hummingbird species. While on a camping trip in Zion National Park, I took an early morning walk when a male Black-chinned Hummingbird started feeding on the wildflowers in front of me! I still remember the purple, vibrant throat shining in the early morning sun. 🙂
Black-chinned Hummingbird Range Map
Black-chinned Hummingbirds breed in a small area of southwest Canada during the summer months. In winter, they migrate to the west coasts of Mexico. This species is one of the most adaptable of all hummingbird species and is found in various habitats. Look for them in places such as mountain and alpine meadows, canyons with thickets, orchards, urban areas, and recently disturbed areas.
You will probably hear a Black-chinned Hummingbird flying if they are around. This is because their wings make a distinctive hum, which sounds similar to a bee. These birds also commonly make different high-pitched ticks and chips.
Fun Facts:
- Their eggs are about the size of a coffee bean!
- When the weather is cold, and lots of energy is needed to stay warm, these birds can drink up to THREE times their body weight in nectar. On the flip side, when insects are plentiful, they can survive without any nectar for stretches of time.
#4: Calliope Hummingbird
How To Identify:
- Males: These small birds are easy to identify because of their long, magenta throat feathers that appear as streaks going down their neck. Their head, upperparts, and flanks are metallic green. The breast is white. Males can be observed performing a unique U-shaped dive that is used to impress females.
- Females: They have small dark spots on their white throat instead of the vibrant magenta throat feathers like the male. Their head and back are covered in a metallic green with a white, buffy breast.
- *Similar Species: It’s hard to distinguish between female Calliope and female Rufous Hummingbirds. The biggest difference is that Rufous Hummingbirds are larger with a longer bill and have more copper coloring at the base of the tail.
The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest bird in Canada! It’s under four inches in length and weighs between 2 – 3 grams (0.071 to 0.106 oz), which is about the same weight as a ping-pong ball!
Calliope Hummingbird Range Map
This hummingbird species has an incredibly long migration route, especially when you consider their tiny size. The Calliope spends its winters in Mexico. But each spring, they make the long migration up the Pacific coast to their summer breeding grounds. During fall migration, they return to Mexico by following the Rocky Mountains instead of heading back down the coast.
Male Calliope Hummingbirds are known for their impressive U-shaped dives, which are used to attract females. During the display, they will fly as high as 100 feet in the air and then dive until they almost hit the ground, and then rise back up to repeat the process.
While they are plummeting towards the Earth, you should be able to hear buzzing, which is emitted from their tail feathers, along with a high-pitched “zing” call that the bird makes.
Fun Facts:
- Even though they are tiny, Calliope Hummingbirds are known to be feisty during the breeding season. They have been observed chasing away birds as large as Red-tailed Hawks!
- These small hummers are known to hunt small insects by “hawking.” This means they sit on a perch waiting for their victim to pass by, and then fly out to catch it in mid-air.
- Calliopes like using conifer trees for nest construction. They try to choose a limb with a substantial sheltering branch overhead, which protects them from precipitation and makes the nest more difficult to spot from above. Organic materials such as lichen, bark, and moss comprise the camouflage.
#5: Anna’s Hummingbird
How To Identify:
- Males: They are best known for their beautiful iridescent pinkish-red heads. Underparts are a mix between gray and green. Tail and back are dark green. Most of the time, a broken white eye-ring is visible.
- Females: Duller than the males, with a green cap and body. Their tail has a white tip. Many birds have a patch of metallic purple or red on their throat.
- *Similar Species: Costa’s Hummingbird, which is smaller with a purple throat and slightly down-curved bill.
These jeweled beauties are tiny birds that are no larger than a ping pong ball and weigh about the same as a nickel.
Anna’s Hummingbird Range Map
Anna’s are different from most hummers since they don’t migrate much, if at all. These hummingbirds are year-round residents from southern British Columbia to northern Mexico. They have varied habitats, including deserts, mountains, woodlands, gardens, and chaparral.
Anna’s Hummingbirds have a distinctive song! (Press play below)
To help locate these hummingbirds, listen for a long song that often lasts ten seconds or more. The song starts with a series of buzzes, which is then followed by a pleasant-sounding whistle. The entire sequence can last more than ten seconds and typically finishes with some chip notes.
Personally, it’s hard to believe these noises are coming from a pretty little hummingbird!
Fun Facts:
- Anna’s Hummingbirds are known for their thrilling mating displays. The male starts by hovering in front of his chosen female for a few seconds. Then he flies straight up to heights of 130 feet (40m), concluding with him diving straight down and giving a loud squeak within a few feet of his target.
- In addition to nectar, these hummingbirds consume a wide variety of insects. Their favorites are smaller bugs, such as whiteflies, midges, and leafhoppers. They will even pluck insects off that are caught in spider webs!
- Anna’s Hummingbirds enjoy supplementing their diet with tree sap. When available, they will eat sugary sap that is leaking out of holes made by sapsuckers.
#6: Costa’s Hummingbird (RARE)
How To Identify:
- Males: Their large, iridescent purple gorget makes them easy to identify, as it covers their head, along with flaring out along the sides of their neck like an overgrown mustache.
- Females: Females have a white throat and underparts, along with a green back and head. Look for white-tips on the green tail feathers. Both sexes appear compact with a short tail.
I “mustache” you a question? Have you ever seen a hummingbird quite like this one?
Costa’s Hummingbirds have a limited range in the United States. They are found in various habitats, including desert scrub, chaparral, sage scrub, and even in deciduous forests in their Mexico wintering grounds.
While it’s not common, these hummingbirds are sometimes observed in southwest Canada.
Costa’s Hummingbird Range Map
Males have a spirited mating display used to attract females. They typically perform a series of dives and loops in front of the female in hopes of impressing her, and they even position themselves at the correct angle to the sun to show their violet plumage!
Fun Facts:
- Researchers have found that Costa’s hummingbirds must visit up to 1,800 flowers daily to obtain enough energy to sustain themselves.
- Costa’s Hummingbirds are shyer than other larger species. To attract them to your yard, try offering multiple feeders to give them a place to feed away from these more aggressive hummingbirds.
#7: Broad-tailed Hummingbird (RARE)
How To Identify:
- Males: Adults have a white breast, buffy flanks, and green covering their head, back, and tail. Look for their iridescent red throat.
- Females: Similar to other types of hummingbirds, females are larger than males. They have a lightly speckled throat, white upper breasts, and a brownish belly. The head and back are green.
These hummingbirds are a bird of mountain meadows and open woodlands. They typically breed at elevations between 5,000 and 10,500 feet.
So based on their preferred mountain habitat, I think it’s easy to see that these hummingbirds are not often spotted in Canada. The only time you may see a Broad-tailed Hummingbird in Canada is if it gets lost during migration.
In addition, they also look incredibly similar to the common Ruby-throated Hummingbird. So even if you saw a Broad-tailed Hummingbird, it would be hard to identify properly.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird Range Map
Fun facts about Broad-tailed Hummingbirds:
- These birds live up to 10,500 feet high in the mountains, where temperatures regularly drop below freezing, even in summer. To survive these cold nights, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds enter a state of torpor, where they slow their heart rate down and drop their body temperature until the sun comes up!
- To obtain protein, Broad-tailed’s will eat insects wherever they can find them! That could be catching bugs mid-air, gleaning off leaves, or even stealing them off a spider web!
- When available, they will sometimes drink sap that is leaking from trees that have been drilled by Red-naped Sapsuckers.
Do you want to learn more about hummingbirds in Canada?
If so, here are a few books you should consider purchasing. 🙂
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The Hummingbird Book: The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Enjoying Hummingbirds
-
Attracting Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Backyard: Watch Your Garden Come Alive With Beauty on the Wing
Which of these hummingbirds have you seen before in Canada?
Leave a comment below!
The range maps above were generously shared with permission from The Birds of The World, published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I use their site OFTEN to learn new information about birds!
I live in London,Ontario and we get a lot of Ruby- throated Hummingbirds in our garden here.For some reason they appear to be mostly females. Last summer, in early June, we saw all sorts of them at a cottage we were staying at , deep in the woods in Muskoka. The cottage owners had a couple of hummingbird feeders hanging right outside the cottage and they were constantly feeding at them all day and into the early evening. Beautiful!