Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Creative Commons 3.0, Kati Fleming

On June 15, 1806, in today’s Clearwater County, Idaho, Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal, “found the nest of a humming-bird, which had just begun to lay its eggs.”

At that time, only two hummingbird species had been identified in North America; today there are eight. So it’s not known with certainty the species observed by Lewis. But Elliot Coues in his 1893 edition of the Lewis and Clark journals seemed to believe the Captain had seen a Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) – and he inserted a footnote in the journals that said “Credit Lewis and Clark with the discovery of this species…”

The Broad-tailed Hummingbird is commonly found in high elevations of the western areas of the U.S., Mexico, and Guatemala during summer months and at lower elevations in winter, primarily in Mexico.