Broad-billed Hummingbird beak deformation

[Lorant Voros]

Hello Fellow Birders and Photographers.

In Mexico City I have a hummer feeder in front of my apartment. Today I had a visitor with a strangely deformed bill. Anyone knows what caused this? Maybe a feeder where they don't change the nectar regularly? Or some fungus that attacked the beak?

Thanks,

Lorant

[John Chardine]

Hi Lorant- I've never seen anything like this. I have a wildlife vet friend. If you don't mind I'll send him the image and see what he says.

[John Chardine]

Hi Lorant- Here's the response from my friend Dr. Pierre-Yves Daoust of the Atlantic Veterinary College.

My first thought was a simple fracture of the upper beak. On second thought, I am not so certain about a fracture, but I still think of some kind of traumatic injury. What makes me think of this is that the surface of the distal half of the upper beak has a rough surface, as if the epidermis and perhaps underlying bone had reacted (through cellular proliferation) to a fairly severe irritation. If so, this irritation would not have been very recent in order to give time to the tissue to react to the injury. On closer look, the lower beak also has a rough surface and does not look very healthy. I wonder what kind of body condition this bird was in, as this beak may have interfered with foraging.

[John Chardine]

From what Pierre-Yves said, it's possible that the bird hit a window, as hummers often do, damaged its beak, and it has not healed-up properly.

[Lorant Voros]

John, thank you and your friend for this information. I will share this with the Mexican community.

Lorant

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

I have a similar image of a rufous-tailed hummingbird with an odd looking beak also, reading above gives me an idea of what could have caused it.