White-eared Hummingbird

The white-eared hummingbird is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long. Males weigh an average of 3.6 g (0.13 oz) and females 3.2 g (0.11 oz). Adults of the three subspecies are very similar. Their bills are straight; males' are red with a black tip and females' are mostly blackish with some red to orange at the base. Males of the nominate subspecies in breeding plumage have a metallic violet or bluish violet forehead, a mostly black face with a wide white stripe behind the eye, and a dull black crown. Their upperparts are bright metallic green to bronze green and the uppertail coverts more bronzy; the rump and covert feathers have rusty edges. The central pair of tail feathers are bright bronze green, the next pair a darker green, and the remaining three pairs bronzy black with bright bronze green tips. Their chin and upper throat are violet blue, the lower throat metallic emerald green, and the breast and flanks are bronze to bronze green with dull grayish white down the center. The undertail coverts are grayish brown with a faint bronze gloss. Nominate females in breeding plumage resemble the males. However, their crown is dusky brown and they lack the brilliant chin and throat of the male. Their underparts are pale brownish gray to grayish white with metallic bronze green spots and the undertail coverts are grayish with whitish margins. …

The white-eared hummingbird's B. l. borealis subspecies occurs from southern Arizona into the Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Tamaulipas. It is an occasional visitor to New Mexico and Texas and has occurred as a vagrant further north and east in the U.S. The nominate subspecies B. l. leucotis is found from central and southern Mexico into Guatemala. B. l. pygmaea is found in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The white-eared hummingbird is a species of montane regions where it inhabits the interior, clearings, and edges of pine, pine-oak, and pine-evergreen forest. In elevation it ranges between 1,200 and 3,500 m (3,900 and 11,500 ft).

The white-eared hummingbird forages for nectar at a very wide variety of flowering plants and shrubs, mainly feeding in the low to mid-levels of the vegetation. It defends feeding territories from others of its species, smaller species, and even somewhat larger species such as the broad-tailed hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). It also makes "secretive low approaches" to feed in the territories of significantly larger species like Rivoli's hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens). In addition to nectar, it also feeds on small insects.