Feeding Behavior

At flowers, usually feeds while hovering, extending its bill deep into the flower. At feeders, may either hover or perch. To catch small insects, may fly out and take them in midair, or hover to pluck them from foliage; also sometimes will take spiders or trapped insects from spider webs.

Eggs

2. White. Incubation is by female only, 17-22 days. Young: Female feeds the young. The nest stretches as the young birds grow. Age of young at first flight about 22-25 days.

Young

Female feeds the young. The nest stretches as the young birds grow. Age of young at first flight about 22-25 days.

Diet

Mostly nectar and insects. Takes nectar from flowers, and will feed on tiny insects as well. Favors red tubular flowers such as penstemon, red monkey-flower, red columbine, paintbrush, scarlet sage; also flowers of other colors, such as the yellow blooms of tree-tobacco. Will also feed on sugar-water mixtures in hummingbird feeders.

Nesting

Male's courtship display is in J-shaped pattern: flying high, diving steeply with metallic whine at bottom of dive, then curving up to hover at moderate height; often preceded by a back-and-forth pendulum flight in front of the female. Nest site is in a tree or shrub, rarely on a weed stalk, usually low (but rarely up to 90 feet above the ground) on a horizontal or diagonal branch. Nest (built by female alone) is a neatly constructed cup of green mosses and plant fibers, held together with spider webs, lined with plant down. The outside is camouflaged with bits of lichen.