about our namesake

The Calliope Hummingbird named after the Greek muse Calliope, is the smallest bird found in the United States and Canada.

This is the smallest bird in North America, measuring about 3 inches long and weighing about one-tenth of an ounce. Despite its tiny size, it is able to survive cold summer nights at high elevations in the northern Rockies, and some migrate every year from Canada all the way to southern Mexico. In migration it may be overlooked, often feeding at low flowers and avoiding the aggression of larger hummingbirds.

The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest North American breeding bird. Defending its territory with a body mass about half that of North America's smallest passerine, the Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus), or a third that of the smallest wood- warblers (Parulinae), the Calliope Hummingbird lives up to its heroic specific name, that of the muse of epic poetry. Stellula means “little star,” a name especially suited to the male Calliope Hummingbird when he flashes the magenta rays of his beautiful and unique gorget.