Cooperative hummingbird nesting behavior
Posted by Sharon Cook on July 31, 2007
Q: A friend has a black chinned hummingbird (not a certain ID) nesting in his back yard in Albuquerque. There is another slightly larger female who is in the area and also feeds the 2 nestlings; he also observed this "helper" feeding the mother. Is this common nesting behavior among hummingbirds?
Habitat: suburban/yard
State: New Mexico
Habitat: suburban/yard
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A: There are only two species that typically breed in the Albuquerque area, the Black-chinned and the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds so it sounds like the ID of the Black-chinned is reasonable. However, hummingbirds do hybridize and this can cause some confusion in identification but I doubt this is the case here.
Female hummingbirds are in general 15-25% larger than their male counterparts so your "slightly larger" female is undoubtedly the mother feeding her own nestlings; males don't help. I'm a bit confused about the "helper" feeding the mother though. To the best of my knowledge, an adult hummer wouldn't be feeding another adult at the nest. I think the mother is simply feeding two very large babies. The photo you shared looks to me like two almost ready to fledge babies, not adults. Hope I've answered your question properly. Thanks for asking.
John Wiessinger ( August 1, 2007)