HUMMINGBIRDS OF CENTRAL AMERICA

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Archilochus Colubris

Adults have an iridescent green head and back, white underparts.

Males have a brilliant red metallic throat and a forked tail.

Females have a dull grayish throat, and a white-tipped square tail.

Juveniles look similar to the adult females, but the immature males may have a few red feathers on their throat.

BILL: black, long, straight and very slender about 0.79 inches in length.

SIZE: small, with an average length of about 2.8 - 3.5 inches with a wingspan of 3.1 - 4.3 inches.

WEIGHT: weight ranges from 2 - 6 grams, with males about 3.4 grams and females about 3.8 grams.

COLOR: iridescent green, red, gray, white and black.

NECTAR from red or orange tubular flowers such as trumpet creeper, cardinal flower, honeysuckle, jewelweed, bee-balm, red buckeye, and red morning glory, as well as at hummingbird feeders and, sometimes, tree sap.

INSECTS small caterpillars and aphids from leaves.

Hovering, while feeding from flowers. Aggressively defends feeding territory from intruders.

NEST: large thimble-sized nest made of thistle or dandelion down held together with strands of spider silk and sometimes pine resin, camouflaged with bits of lichen and moss built directly on top of a branch rather than in a fork.

EGGS: 1 - 3 white eggs.

INCUBATION: 12 to 14 days, female only.

NESTLING PHASE: 18 - 22 days.

Deciduous and pine forests and forest edges, orchards, and gardens. Tropical deciduous forests, citrus groves, forest edges, hedgerows, along rivers and marshes, and in old fields (in winter).

Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States.

The oldest known Ruby-Throated Hummingbird to be banded was 9 years and 1 month of age.

REFERENCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/ 

                         https://animaldiversity.org/ 

                         https://www.allaboutbirds.org/