Hummingbirds in July

Almost every July we have the luck and the pleasure to host all four of Colorado’s hummingbirds: black-chinned; broad-tailed; rufous; and, calliope.  The black-chinned hummer and the broad-tailed both nest here at the nursery, but the other two are migratory, stopping here after they’ve nested farther north or higher in the mountains. Yesterday was the first day that we saw all four of them at our feeders.  The picture above is the black-chinned male hummingbird. The orange colored one below is the male rufous hummingbird. He’s known for being rowdy and sometimes chases other birds away. On the opposite side of the feeder is a female–I’m not sure which species. I hope to get a picture of the calliope soon. They are the smallest of the hummingbirds, in fact they’re the smallest birds in North America! The male calliope has deep red-purple streaks on his throat–very distinctive!