Black-chin hummingbirds migrate south in the winter months when they settle in southern California, southern Arizona, southern Texas or Mexico from British Colombia and back. The summer migration south starts from around April until July for the late comers whilst fall migration starts from July until October

This happens once the sunlight has decreased and food sources are necessary to go through brooding season once again but, this time in the northern regions as female hummers are quite active when creating babies normally having 1 – 3 clutch periods every year.

How Far Do Black-Chinned Hummingbirds Migrate?

Black-chin’s are medium to long distant migraters as they tend travel from British Colombia all the way down to northern Mexico or central America. Like the majority of other hummingbirds notwithstanding Roufous and Anna’s hummingbirds, black-chinned hummers tend to on average travel 500 miles.

This distance may vary depending on whether the hummingbird is accustomed to traveling further south but, in most cases flying nonstop for 18 -22 hours at 25 – 30 mph, is generally enough for a black-chinned hummingbird to reach their breeding ground/migration destination. All in all this makes up the average 500 – 600 mile distance that a black-chin tends to cover when migrating

its fascinating to consider that these small, dainty, pepper colored birds tend cover so many miles in a single day which more often than not is a solo trek.

Crazy when you take into account a black-chinned hummingbirds metabolism and how many calories they’d be burning in that single day without stopping once for a tea break. Most animals would struggle to do that once in their lifetime yet a black-chinned hummingbird along with almost all the others do this 2 times every year!

Why Do Black-Chinned Hummingbirds Migrate?

The short answer is to get access to a larger food supply and to have access to more daylight.

This will allow for their favourite food source to bloom (flower nectar) in abundance, to keep up with the black-chinned hummingbirds metabolism, a metabolism that results in them burning a ton of calories more or less every single day.

Migration season is also the season within which black-chinned hummers mate. It’s the reason why the males make their way down a few weeks before the females in order to scope out their territory in wait for potential partners to breed with once the females arrive.

Once the breeding side of things have been accomplished, the females will generally create a nest, lay their eggs and raise their little newborns over a couple months whilst the male black-chinned hummer make their way towards mountain forests as flower nectar is most prevalent in these regions.

What Is The Black-Chinned Hummingbirds Migration Path?

This depends on their starting point. If the initial starting spot is in British Colombia, Canada the path that they’d take would be through Idaho, Nevada before finally arriving in north Mexico.

Some may make way towards southern California, south Arizona amongst other more Eastern states that have desert lands and mountainous forests.

When winter hits Mexico, southern California and northern Arizona, its then when the black-chinned hummers make their way back up north to British Colombia.

How High Do Black-Chinned Hummingbirds Fly When Migrating?

When migrating hummingbirds tend to fly at extreme heights especially those flying over Mexico’s gulf coast. Hummingbirds have been known to go upwards of 500 ft (153 meters) in the air. To put this into perspective this would mean the hummer is flying 1.5 times the length of the statue of liberty (93 meters) and a little less than half the size of the Eiffel tower (324 meters).

The fact this measly 3.25inch (8.25cm) bird is genuinely riding those sky-high winds when flying non-stop to their breeding grounds, once again shows how crazy nature can truly be.

Normal day to day flying however, would be significantly lower with the black-chinned hummer flying at a normal sized tree’s height. The reason being to keep themselves protected within the tree ranges from bigger bird predators like hawks, road runners etc.

Summary

Black-chinned hummingbirds tend to migrate at the same time as the majority of the other hummingbird variants besides Anna’s of course. Migration occurs at the same time of year between April and July when heading south and from July till October when heading back up north.

Unless daylight hours increase or their preferred migration zones suddenly develop horticulture that supports their lifestyle as California has done for Anna’s hummingbirds, this cycle will remain a constant throughout the black-chinned hummingbirds foreseeable future.

References

https://www.welcomewildlife.com/hummingbirds-that-migrate-thousands-of-miles/

https://feederwatch.org/blog/ruby-throated-hummingbirds-wintering-northward-at-a-nectar-feeder-near-you/#:~:text=But by winter, most hummingbirds,hours of non-stop flying.

https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/black-chinned-hummingbird.htm

https://birdwatchingbuzz.com/how-high-do-hummingbirds-fly/