A male lucifer hummingbird has a brilliant purple gorget. Except for the gorget, reddish breast patches, and cream-colored throat feathers, males are green-gray.
Females lack the bright gorget and have green-gray upperparts, buff or rusty underparts, and a dark eye stripe. Females and males have curled bills.
Hummingbird researcher and University of California – Riverside associate professor of Biology Christopher J. Clark adds, “Within their range, they’re pretty distinctive.”
Lucifer hummingbirds are rare at backyard sugar water feeders unless you reside in a specific section of the US.
One may be found in Arizona or Texas, but they're rare. Christopher reports their southern Arizona and Big Bend National Park range.
One Birds & Blooms reader saw this bird in Texas' Davis Mountains, a hummingbird sanctuary with annual celebrations.
Females frequently have nests and eggs, and the male will perform demonstrations to her while she's on the nest, he says.
This is puzzling since we think of courtship displays as males seeking to impress females to decide to mate. She's decided to mate. Her nest exists.