HUMMINGBIRDS: Family Trochtltdae [365] 



Calliope Hummingbird: 



Stellula calliofe (Gould) 



DESCRIPTION. "Six middle tail feathers contracted in the middle and widened at 

 end; adult male with feathers of chin and throat narrow, those on the outside of the 

 ruff elongated; base of ruff white. Adult male: Gorget rose purplish, white bases 

 giving effect of streaking; upper parts metallic green; tail feathers dusky, bases 

 edged with rufous, tip wider than base; under parts white; sides tinged with brown 

 and green. Adult female: upper parts bronzy green; tail rounded and tail feathers 

 greenish gray basally with touch of rufous, black-banded, and tipped with white, 

 except middle pair, which are green ending in dusky. Young: similar, but under 

 parts washed with rufous, throat specked with dusky. Male: length z. 75-3.00, 

 wing 1.50-1.60, tail .90-1.10, exposed culmen .55-. 58. Female: length 3.50, wing 

 1.75-1.80, tail 1.10-1.15, bill .58-. 60." (Bailey) Nest: Willow down, decorated 

 with bits of bark and shreds of cone, and often saddled on a pine cone. Eggs: -L, 

 white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from northern British Columbia and southwestern 

 Alberta south in high mountains to Lower California and New Mexico. Winters 

 in Mexico. In Oregon: Regular summer resident of Blue Mountains and isolated 

 high ranges of eastern Oregon. 



NEXT TO the Rufous Hummingbird, the Calliope Hummingbird is the 

 most abundant hummer in the State, although it is found only in eastern 

 Oregon. There are, however, a few scattered records from the Siskiyou 

 Mountains, Jackson County, and one from Glendale, Douglas County, on 

 July 3, 1916 (specimen in Carnegie Museum). 



This is the smallest bird in the State probably the smallest in the 

 United States but despite its minute size it is quite hardy. It frequents 

 the open mountain meadows, where it finds an abundance of flowers 

 during the short summer. It arrives in early May (earliest date, April 2.4, 

 Klamath County) and remains until September (latest date, September 

 2.4). Merrill (1888) published the first record for Oregon when he listed 

 it as a common bird at Fort Klamath. Bendire (1895 a) listed, the first set 

 of eggs, taken June n, 1883, near the same spot. He found several other 

 nests and collected three sets of eggs in a few days in June of that year. 

 Anthony took a set of fresh eggs in Baker County, July i, 1901. Since 

 that time the species has been listed by various observers as a summer 

 resident of all mountain ranges in the State east of the Cascades. There 

 are numerous skins in the Biological Survey collection as well as in our 

 own collections. 



