This section includes all species of hummingbirds that have been reliably reported from anywhere north of the Mexican border, although several of them are not truly North American in the sense of having been proven to breed in the United States or Canada. West Indian species are also included, but only if they have been reported from the mainland of North America, as are Mexican species breeding north of Chiapas.
All descriptions are in typical field-guide terminology, which I have included in the Glossary and on the hummingbird figure facing this page. In addition, identifying characteristics of some species vary depending on the position of the bird and the angle at which the viewer sees it. Therefore, some descriptions are worded according to one or more of the following positions:
Position a: Viewer’s eye between bird and light, bird’s bill toward eye, bird nearly horizontal.
Position b: Viewer’s eye directly above bird, bird’s bill toward light, bird nearly horizontal.
Position c: Same as position a, but bird reversed (tail, instead of bill, toward eye).