Family: Trochilidae, Hummingbirds view all from this family

Description 3 1/2" (9 cm). A small hummingbird. Both sexes have long, broad white stripe behind eye and red bill with dark tip. Male green above and below, with purple crown and iridescent blue-green chin; female lacks bright crown and chin and is whitish below with green spotting and barring on throat and sides.

Habitat Mountain woodlands.

Nesting 2 white eggs in a moss nest interwoven with needles, lichens, and twigs, placed in a small tree.

Range Irregular summer visitor to extreme southeastern Arizona; rare in New Mexico and Texas. 

Voice Breeding male utters a long, monotonous clinking sound: tink-tink-tink.

Discussion Early in the year male White-eared Hummingbirds establish individual feeding territories. As the breeding season approaches, several males gather in an area where they court vigorously. Females with a nest visit these groups and return to their nesting area with a male.