Selasphorus platycercus
Status: Increasing. Uncommon regular fall migrant west and west-central, rare casual east-central and east. Rare regular spring migrant and summer visitor west.
Documentation: Photograph: 22-30 Aug 1987 Hastings, Adams Co (Grenon 1990).
Taxonomy: No subspecies are currently recognized (AviList 2025).
A hybrid male Ruby-throated Hummingbird x Broad-tailed Hummingbird was photographed in Dawes Co 6 May 2014, was joined by a female Ruby-throated 22 May, copulation was observed, both were present through 7 Jul, and the male until 10 Aug (Juanita Whittecar, eBird.org; Broad-tailed x Ruby-throated Hummingbird (hybrid).
Spring: May 11, 12, 13 <<<>>> summer
Earlier dates are 5 May 2020 immature female Croft feeders, Scotts Bluff Co (photo), and 8 May 2023 adult female at Whittecar feeders, Dawes Co (photos).
Spring and even summer records of this species have increased greatly since the first spring record in 2014. There are 48 documented May and Jun reports for the state, 45 of these since 2018, suggesting a recent influx into the Nebraska Panhandle, possibly related to a similar increase in the South Dakota Black Hills (see Summer). Spring and summer reports at the Whittecar feeders in Dawes Co are discussed below in Summer, along with other later Jun reports.
Summer: There are recent reports that indicate breeding in Nebraska, none as yet proven, even though this species breeds commonly in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, and, more recently, the Black Hills of South Dakota (Drilling et al 2018). Perhaps the recent increase in Black Hills reports may lead to increased Nebraska occurrences.
Mollhoff (2022) noted a record of a pair seen daily by M. H. Swenk at Glen, Sioux Co 18-22 Aug (Swenk 1906), “leading the observer to feel … quite sure they bred”.
Suggestive of breeding in recent years, but as yet unproven, is a series of observations in a southeastern Dawes Co yard beginning in 2014 (Juanita Whittecar, personal communication, photos). These can be summarized as follows:
2014: female 22-28 May
2015: female 24 May- 10 Jul; two females 21 Jun (Silcock 2015a, 2015b)
2016: two females 22-26 May
2018: male 13 Jun, two females 27 May-14 Jun
2019: female 24 May-15 Jun
2020: male(s) 8-9 May, 26-29 May and 8-9 Jun, female 19 May-30 Jun
2021: female 19-20 May and 11-19 Jun
2022: male 28 May, two males 26 Jun; two females 7 May-16 Jul
Recent sightings in the Wildcat Hills area of Scotts Bluff Co might indicate breeding:
2018: adult male 14 Jun
2019: male 24 Jun
2020: male and female 16-23 Jun
2023: singles 12, 13, and 18 Jun
2024: immature/female 15 Jun
2025: immature male/adult female 19-22 May; 1-2 females 24-25 May; male 31 May; pair with male displaying 6 Jul.
Similarly suggestive sightings at feeders in northwestern Gering are of an immature or female16-29 Jun 2024, a male 22 Jun 2019, and a male 23 Jun 2022. Males were detected by their wing trills at Oliver Reservoir, Kimball Co 19 and 22 May 2025 and in Sioux Co 7 Jun 2025.
Fall: Jun 24, 26, 26<<<>>> Aug 31, 31, Sep 1
An earlier date was a male in Dawes Co 17-20 Jun 2025.
Later dates are 7 Sep 2024 Gering, Scotts Bluff Co, 10 Sep 2018 Kimball Co, 13 Sep 2022 Scotts Bluff Co, 15 Sep 2013 Scotts Bluff Co, 22 Sep 2007 Scotts Bluff Co, and 22 Sep 2018 Scotts Bluff Co. A later report was 5 Oct 1981 Dawes Co, although the two latest reports are of individuals in the east, cited below.
Male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds do not take part in incubation or rearing of young, and, based on a six-week breeding cycle after earliest egg-laying in Colorado (Wickersham 2016), may depart breeding locations as early as late Jun.
Migrants are generally restricted to the west, but there are about 16 records further east, including these easternmost records: a female was in Nuckolls Co 26 Jul 2012, a female was at Creighton, Knox Co 18-30 Aug 2002, a female/immature was at a Bellevue, Sarpy Co feeder 1 Oct-7 Nov 2007 (Brogie 2008), a female/immature was photographed at Seward, Saline Co 17-24 Oct 1990 (Grenon 1991), and a female was at a Lincoln, Lancaster Co feeder 27-29 Jul and 15-25 Aug 2016.
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- High counts: 4 at the Smith feeders in Scotts Bluff Co 27 Jul 2018, 4 there 17 Aug 2022, and 3 at another Scotts Bluff feeder 6 Aug 2018.
- A total of 13 were reported 4 Aug-22 Sep 2018 and about 11 for 6 Aug-13 Sep 2022.
Images
Abbreviations
NM: National Monument
Literature Cited
AviList Core Team, 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025.
Brogie, M.A. 2008. 2007 (19th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 76: 111-119.
Drilling, N.E., E.D Stukel, R.A. Sparks, and B.J. Woiderski. 2018. The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of South Dakota. SDGFP, Wildlife Division Report 2017-02. South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks, Pierre.
Grenon, A.G. 1990. 1990 (Third) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 58: 90-97.
Grenon, A.G. 1991. 1991 (Fourth) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 59: 150-155.
Mollhoff, W.J. 2022. Nest records of Nebraska birds. Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Occasional Paper Number 9.
Silcock, W.R. 2014. Spring Field Report, Mar 2014 to May 2014. NBR 82: 46-73.
Silcock, W.R. 2015a. Spring field report, Mar-May 2015. NBR 83: 54-85.
Silcock, W.R. 2015b. Summer Field Report, June-July 2015. NBR 83: 102-124.
Silcock, W.R. 2016. Spring Field Report, Mar 2016 to May 2016. NBR 84: 58- 85.
Swenk, M.H. 1906. Some Nebraska Bird Notes. Auk 23: 108-109.
Wickersham, L.E. Ed. 2016. The Second Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas. Colorado Bird Atlas Partnership, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2025. Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 21 Aug 2025