General Description: Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus) are tiny green birds with long bills. They hover in front of flowers and feed on nectar. Males have a red iridescent gorget (throat feathers) under the chin. The neck feathers are white, clearly separating the gorget from the green feathers on the side of the chest. The top of the head is green. Females have a white throat with lines of tiny green dots, and they show some red on the sides and a little in the tail.

Broad-tails have very noisy wings.

Taxonomy: Apodiformes, Trochilidae, Trochilinae.

Favored Habitat: Mountains from the Yellow Pine zone upward.

Where to Find: Anyplace in the mountains with a hummingbird feeder.

Comments: This species is a summer visitor to the Las Vegas area.