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Status: Population size: 200,000 Photo by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Lucifer Hummingbird
(Calothorax lucifer)

This species was on the 2002 WatchList, but is not on the 2007 WatchList. Please refer to http://web1.audubon.org/science/species/watchlist/techReport.php for information on the 2007 WatchList.

Identification
The decurved bill of Lucifer Hummingbird is unmatched by any other hummingbird in North America. Together with the forked tail and purple gorget (throat), this is a particularly distinct desert hummingbird. Females lack the iridescent gorget, but are identified by a buffy collar with a white streak behind the eye.

Distribution and Population Trends
A bird of arid, desert-like regions of the central Mexican Plateau, Lucifer Hummingbirds distribution in the United States consist of a small breeding population in Big Bend National Park (BBNP) in west Texas as well as widely scattered reports in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Numbers correspond directly with rainfall amounts and flowering times of desert plants. Populations can therefore seem high during one breeding season and low the next. The population in Big Bend has grown to about 50 breeding pairs since its discovery in 1901. The Big Bend population does, however, remain rather stable. Reports from Arizona and New Mexico have increased since 1960 because, in part, to increased numbers of observers and their awareness of the species as a possible vagrant from Mexico. It is now rare, but seen annually in the southwest. Little is known about population trends in Mexico.

Ecology
The breeding cycle can be highly protracted with the possibility of two broods in times of high rainfall. In dry seasons, however, breeding is usually postponed as late as June offering only enough time for one brood. When breeding does in fact begin, males perch atop plants and launch into a dramatic aerial display to court females while she is incubating eggs. Displays may last as long as 45 seconds. A clutch of two are incubated for 15 days and fledge within 19-23 days.

Threats
There are no severe threats to this species. Historically, trade and sale of caged-hummingbirds may have posed a threat, but no data are available to confirm this. The US population is threatened by virtue of being small and locally distributed. Little data are available to determine the effects of disease from hummingbird feeders in Big Bend National Park. Such feeders have played host to abnormally large numbers of Lucifer Hummingbirds during times of drought when flowers are scarce.

Conservation
This species was fortunate to settle in the Chisos Mountains of west Texas, the site of Big Bend National Park. This assures them protection from human development and helps ensure a small yet viable population north of the Mexican border. Further research should be taken to search for breeding populations outside of park boundaries as well as in suitable habitat in Arizona and New Mexico. If found, protection should be extended in the form of habitat preservation.

References
Scott, Peter E. 1994. Lucifer Hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer). In The Birds of North America, No. 134 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D. C.

Kaufman, K. Lives of North American Birds. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.