Blue-throated Mountain-gems are Arizona’s second largest hummingbirds, measuring 4.5–5 inches long and weighing around 6 grams. Males dazzle with an iridescent turquoise-blue throat and crown set against glossy green upperparts and crisp white underparts; females are similar but sport a speckled green throat. They are summer residents of southeastern Arizona’s Madrean Sky Islands, favoring oak–pine riparian canyons where they sip nectar from large tubular flowers—columbine, penstemon and coralbean—and glean insects for protein. Breeding occurs from spring through mid-summer, with nests tucked under canyon overhangs.
