Name That Hummingbird

Why is the adult male Blue-Throated Hummingbird larger than the female?

Adult male blue-throated hummingbird - Cave Canyon Chiricahua Mountains, AZ (Copyright Jim Scarff at flickr.com)

Came across a really nice blog post today about the Blue-Throated Hummingbird that ended with… “In this species of hummingbird, the fact that the male is larger than the female may suggest that the roles of the sexes are different in this species.”

I’m not sure if I agree, but the rest of the article is full of good information, as is the whole blog. Here’s that last paragraph excerpted from the Blue-Throated Hummingbird article…

The male of this species is larger than the female. This is highly unusual among other species of hummingbirds.  Male hummingbirds are the tiniest warm-blooded animals on the planet. There are several reasons to help explain why females are typically larger than the males. Female hummingbirds are solely responsible for the care and rearing of the young. Therefore, the females need to be a tiny bit bigger to be able to produce eggs, to afford to share their body heat with the eggs while incubating, and to be able to share their food when feeding nestlings. In this species of hummingbird, the fact that the male is larger than the female may suggest that the roles of the sexes are different in this species.

Still not sure if I concur with the suggestion of a possible role change in this species. But, the adult male Blue-Throated Hummingbird could win any bird beauty contest…
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