Ruby Red Throated Hummingbirds

With emerald green backs and crowns white or gray bellies and bright red throat patches you will know you re gazing upon a male ruby throat when you see one.

Ruby red throated hummingbirds. Most rubythroats fly nonstop 500 miles or more across the water to mexico and other central american countries. The ruby throated hummingbird is the most widespread hummingbird in the united states and canada. Hovering in front of a flower to sip nectar it beats its wings more than 50 times per second. If you live east of the mississippi you ve probably seen one or many.

They are the most common in the united states especially in the eastern half. Male ruby throated hummingbird male ruby throated hummingbird. During this floral feeding. Young birds may show a few red spots near the base of the throat and those spots will eventually become a full colorful gorget.

They hover to feed on flowers nectar and sap. An adult male ruby throated hummingbird has a black head a red throat gorget and a bright green back. What happens when migrating ruby throated hummingbirds reach the gulf of mexico. Ruby throated hummingbirds live in woodland areas but also frequent gardens where flowering plants are plentiful.

Ruby throated hummingbird archilochus colubris the ruby throated hummingbird is by far the most common species that breeds in the eastern half of north america although most states have sporadic rufous sightings and bob and martha sargent have banded eight other hummingbird species as winter visitors to five southeastern states. Some rubythroats fly over land following the coastline to reach their wintering grounds. While females have very faint gray streaks on the throat juvenile male ruby throated hummingbirds have much bolder streaks that will gradually show the red iridescence characteristic of their fathers. It is by far the most common hummingbird seen east of the mississippi river in north america.

These hummingbirds have a very strict routine often returning to the same area each and every year. Feeders and flower gardens are great ways to attract these birds and some people turn their yards into buzzing clouds of hummingbirds each summer. For most people ruby throated hummingbirds are going to be what many people considered to be just a generic hummingbird. A flash of green and red the ruby throated hummingbird is eastern north america s sole breeding hummingbird.

There it is fairly common in summer in open woods and gardens. Ruby throated hummingbirds may be small in size but they are big in iridescent colors. Hundreds of kinds of hummingbirds nest in the american tropics and more than a dozen in the western u s but east of the great plains there is only the ruby throat.