White-Eared Hummingbird: The Prize of the Arizona Mountain Summer

Male Appearance

The male White-eared Hummingbird is a compact, vividly patterned bird. The most immediately visible feature is the bold white postocular stripe --- a clean, sharp white line beginning at the eye and extending back along the side of the head, contrasting strongly with the dark face and throat. The bill is bright red with a black tip. The crown and head iridescence shifts between deep purple and bright green depending on the angle; viewed from the front, the gorget blazes an intense iridescent emerald-green; from a different angle, the crown glows violet-purple. The back is metallic green; the underparts are white with green spotting on the flanks. The tail is dark blue-green. In good light the overall impression is of a small but intensely colored hummingbird with an unmistakable facial pattern.

Female Appearance

The female White-eared shares the male's most reliable field mark: the bold white postocular stripe, equally prominent in her plumage. The bill has a red base fading to dark toward the tip. The throat is spotted with iridescent green and dusky centers --- a spotted/mottled pattern rather than a clean gorget. The upperparts are metallic green; the underparts are grayish-white with greenish spotting on the flanks. The tail is dark with limited white tips on outer retrices. The female's overall coloration is subtler than the male's, but the bold white ear stripe and red-based bill make her identifiable with a clear view.

Similar Species & How to Tell Them Apart

• Broad-billed Hummingbird (female) --- Has a paler supercilium but it is not nearly as bold and white as the White-eared's stripe; the belly of female Broad-billed is clean gray-white without spotting; the bill on female Broad-billed is slightly more uniformly red-based.

• Violet-crowned Hummingbird --- Has a red bill and white underparts, but the crown is violet-blue and the underparts are pure white without spotting; lacks any bold white facial stripe.

• Berylline Hummingbird --- No white facial stripe; uniform bright green with rufous wings; dark bill.

• Blue-throated Mountain-Gem (female) --- Larger; has white facial stripes but they are bilateral (above and below the eye); plain gray underparts without spotting.

The White-eared's bold, single white stripe behind the eye is essentially diagnostic. No other regularly occurring US hummingbird has a facial stripe of equivalent width and contrast.

• May: First White-eared Hummingbirds arrive in Arizona mountains; early May records are the vanguard of what is typically a small annual cohort.

• June--July: Peak period for White-eared records in Arizona; most documented encounters occur during these two months at established canyon feeder stations.

• August: Declining numbers; some individuals remain through August, but departures accelerate through the month.

• September: Most birds have departed the US by September; rare October records exist.

Monitoring strategy: Follow eBird alerts for Cochise County, Arizona in May and June. Subscribe to the Arizona listserv (AZ-NM Birds listserv) and check the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory (SABO) sightings page. When a White-eared is reported at Ramsey Canyon or a Sierra Vista feeder, move quickly --- these birds can be present for days to weeks or can disappear after a single day.

White-eared Hummingbirds at Arizona canyon sites:

• High-elevation placement: White-eareds are predominantly found at 5,000 feet and above in the Huachuca and Chiricahua mountains. A feeder at 3,000 feet in canyon riparian habitat is far less likely to attract White-eareds than one at 6,000 feet in pine-oak forest.

• Multiple feeders: The species is not dominant in the canyon hierarchy; running multiple feeders reduces competition pressure from Blue-throated and Rivoli's that might otherwise monopolize a single setup.

• Adjacent native flowering plants: Combined with a feeder, a planting of native mountain penstemon or salvia attracts hummingbirds of all species to the property, increasing the chance that a trap-lining White-eared will find the feeder.

• Publicity: If you live in the Sierra Vista or Portal area and a White-eared Hummingbird appears at your feeder, report it on eBird immediately --- this data is invaluable for regional monitoring, and your feeder will attract visiting birders who in turn become engaged in hummingbird conservation.

Nesting of the White-eared Hummingbird in the United States has not been conclusively documented, though prolonged summer residency of territorial birds at Arizona sites suggests the possibility. The species nests commonly in appropriate pine-oak highland habitat throughout central Mexico and Central America.

Any documentation of nesting behavior --- nest construction, food carrying indicating nestlings, or juvenile birds --- by White-eared Hummingbirds at Arizona sites would be a significant ornithological record and should be reported to the Arizona Bird Committee.

The White-eared Hummingbird is Least Concern (IUCN). It is common in pine-oak highland habitat from northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua) south through Central America to Nicaragua. The US records represent vagrant or near-vagrant individuals --- likely young males or post-breeding wanderers --- rather than a self-sustaining breeding population. The species' global population is stable and not of conservation concern.