Oregon hummingbirds: Get to know the state’s 7 species and hear their calls
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A hummingbird feeds in SE Portland's Foster-Powell neighborhood.
An Anna’s hummingbird sits on the a steel post in the outdoor sitting area of Lucky Lab Brewery in NW Portland in 2018. Despite weighing about the same as a nickel, it's the largest hummingbird in Oregon and the only one found here during winter. They’re easy to attract to feeders and may visit all year.
An Allen's hummingbird in California in April of 2017.
Commonly seen around the coastal fog belt in southern Oregon as far north as Bandon in spring and summer, the Allen’s hummingbird looks just like the rufous hummingbird. They can be found nesting anywhere between 2–50 feet off the ground near shaded streams.
A rufous hummingbird in Deschutes National Forest in 2020. This is Oregon’s most common and widespread hummingbird. Known to be feisty, it’s hyper territorial and will attack and chase other birds and small mammals near its nest. It can migrate 3,900 miles (one way) and its wings flap 52 to 62 times per second.
A male black-chinned hummingbird hovering in flight in Idaho in 2022. Adaptable and found in river bottoms, urban areas and desert canyons, it can eat three times its body weight in nectar in a day. Its heart rate averages 480 beats per minute when at rest.
Hummingbirds at a bird feeder in Detroit, Oregon, in 2015.
A male black-chinned hummingbird hovering in flight in Idaho in 2022. Adaptable and found in river bottoms, urban areas and desert canyons, it can eat three times its body weight in nectar in a day. Its heart rate averages 480 beats per minute when at rest.
Hummingbirds at a bird feeder in Detroit, Oregon, in 2015.
Hummingbirds at a bird feeder in Detroit, Oregon, in 2015.
A Costa’s hummingbird in California in 2009. This bird is mostly found in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and only visits central and southwest Oregon in spring and summer.
It can visit 1,840 flowers in a day, and its resting heart rate is 500-900 beats per minute.
A male broad-tailed hummingbird at the Desert Museum in Arizona in 2013. Found in eastern Oregon, this might be the state’s most mysterious hummingbird. Difficult to observe, they breed at elevations up to 10,500 feet and are able to slow their body to 54 degrees when cold.
A male Costa's hummingbird in Southern Arizona in 2019. This bird is mostly found in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and only visits central and southwest Oregon in spring and summer.
It can visit 1,840 flowers in a day, and its resting heart rate is 500-900 beats per minute.
A hummingbird feeds in SE Portland's Foster-Powell neighborhood Monday, Sept. 24, 2018.
A male black-chinned hummingbird, not seen in Oregon as often as rufous and Anna's hummingbirds, sips sugar water from a feeder in Patagonia, Arizona in 2007.
A female calliope hummingbird at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum near Tucson, Arizona, in 2019. Capable of migrating 5,000 miles yearly, it’s the smallest bird in the U.S. and is as light as a ping pong ball. Despite its size, it’s territorial and can chase off raptors during breeding season.
Of over 300 hummingbirds species, which are only found in the Western Hemisphere, just seven of them can be found across Oregon. They include the black-chinned, Anna’s, Costa’s, calliope, broad-tailed, rufous and Allen’s hummingbirds.
Below are seven illustrations with photos, videos and audio detailing Oregon’s seven species.
Good to know hummingbird info:
Most are found within just ten degrees north and south of the equator and less than two dozen species venture into the U.S. and Canada. Very few remain in the U.S. year round.
They are the only birds that can fly backward and straight up and down, and one of the few animals that can hover.
Their wings flap faster than any other creature with wings — up to 4,000 wing beats per minute — and their heartbeat can pump up to 1,000 times in a minute.
Hummingbirds, specifically the males, are saturated in a spectrum of vibrant colors that can change radically in sunlight. According to the Audubon Society, they get their “iridescence colors from crystalline stacks of lozenge-shaped proteins in their feathers’ smallest filaments, which bend color depending on the angle of observation.”
Hummingbirds are actually more colorful than humans can imagine. Birds can see colors humans can’t and hummingbirds are probably the most colorful birds on earth. Most avian eyes have a fourth cone that picks up ultraviolet light. Humans only have three.
The male hummingbird’s attractive colors evolved over time as they competed against each other to appear the most dazzling to females.
Unlike some birds, hummingbirds do not mate for life and males mate with multiple females.
Here is the list:
Commonly seen around the coastal fog belt in southern Oregon as far north as Bandon in spring and summer, it’s a close relative of the rufous hummingbird. They can be found nesting 2–50 feet off the ground, often near shaded streams.
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