Feeding Ecology of Hummingbirds in the Highlands of the Chisos Mountains, Texas

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Abstract
The feeding habits of three species of hummingbirds were examined during the summer of 1975 in the highlands of the Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas. The Blue-throated Hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae), the Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) and the Rufous Hummingbird (S. rufus) were common in the study area, the first occupying the mesic Cypress-Pine-Oak Association and the other two species inhabiting the Pinyon-Juniper-Oak Woodland. Blue-throated Hummingbirds were almost exclusively insectivorous prior to the flowering of mountain sage (Salvia regla), after which their diet began to include its nectar. Males fed outside their territories in the morning at nectar sources in the juniper woodland. Selasphorus hummingbirds overlapped extensively in diet. S. platycercus was common prior to the full flowering of sage, and migrating S. rufus entered the area later, when the sage was in bloom. Males of both species typically established territories around large patches of the sage and open areas while females were relegated to smaller Salvia stands in the woodlands. Such a pattern is apparently maintained by the aggressiveness of the dominant males.

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