White-eared Hummingbird Life History

Habitat

White-eared Hummingbirds occur in mountain oak, pine-oak, and pine-evergreen forests from 1,200 to 3,500 meters (3,900–11,500 feet) in elevation.

Food

White-eared Hummingbirds feed mainly on nectar—foraging on low- and mid-level flowers—and consume some small insects. This species also visits hummingbird feeders.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Placed in a tree or shrub 1.6–6 meters (5–20 feet) above the ground. A new nest is sometimes built on top of one from a previous year.

Nest Description

A cup of plant down, with lichens and moss placed on the outside.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

White-eared Hummingbirds are territorial, with individuals defending against other members of the species as well as against other hummingbirds that are smaller or similarly sized. They defer to larger hummingbird species, but also sneak into their territories to feed on flowering plants. Singing males gather at small communal display areas, known as leks, but may also sing alone.

Like other hummingbird species, White-eared Hummingbirds are thought to be polygynous, with a single male mating with several females. The female alone incubates the eggs, which take 14–16 days to hatch, and cares for the nestlings, which leave the nest after 23–28 days.

Conservation

Partners in Flight estimates White-eared Hummingbird’s global breeding population size at 2,000,000 individuals and rates the species an 11 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating a species of low conservation concern.

Credits

Arizmendi, M. d. C., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, C. A. Soberanes-González, and T. S. Schulenberg (2021). White-eared Hummingbird (Basilinna leucotis), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (Editor not available). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whehum.01.1

Dunne, P. (2006). Pete Dunne's essential field guide companion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, USA.

Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb (1995). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA.

Omar Suárez-García, Erwin López-Osorio, and Matthias Rös "Breeding in the cold? A White-eared Hummingbird (Basilinna leucotis) winter nest record from the mountains of Southern Oaxaca, Mexico," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 132(3), 755-761, (28 April 2021). https://doi.org/10.1676/20-17

Partners in Flight (2023). Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2023.

Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.

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