Blue-Throated Hummingbird
Lampornis clemenciae

The tiny blue-throated hummingbird is only 5 inches in length. It is metallic-green from above and gray from below, and has a white stripe behind the eye. The male only has the blue throat (gorget) - which may look black in poor light - and white corners to its blue-black tail feathers. The female has white tips to its outer tail feathers and is similar in appearance to the female magnificent hummingbird, which has gray tips to its tail feathers. This hummingbird can be found along the border between the United States and Mexico, usually nesting near or over water in a mountain canyon. The blue-throated hummingbird, like all hummingbirds, must supplement its protein diet of small insects with continual feeding on nectar and pollen. Not only can the hummingbird fly forwards or backwards, it can adjust itself upwards or downwards, shift side to side, pivot on a stationary axis, hover in midair, AND it can also turn a somersault in mid-flight and fly upside-down!

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