The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Description: Both sexes have a solid emerald green back and tail. Males have an iridescent red throat (gorget) that may appear black in poor lighting, greenish flanks, and gray chest with no white in the outer tail feathers. Females are smaller, lack the red gorget and instead have a white throat and breast, and white on the outer tail feathers.

When: Common spring visitor, usually arriving in late February or early March and leaving in October. While the ruby-throat migrates annually, a few birds will stay behind and over-winter in Louisiana.

Where: Ruby-throats are the only breeding hummingbird in the eastern United States, ranging from Canada to the Gulf Coast. They winter in Mexico, Central America and some islands in the Caribbean. Ruby-throats migrate at night in an 18-20 hour, non-stop trip across the Gulf. Bob and Martha Sargent, licensed hummingbird banders, have reports that some ruby-throats stop for rest on oil rigs in the Gulf. Crew members maintain feeders during migration periods.

Breeding: The male and female do not pair bond, they only come together to mate. The male puts his energy into aerial displays to attract a female and mates with as many females as possible. Once mating occurs, the female builds the cup shaped nest out of plant downy (other soft material such as hair, feathers, lint and carpet fibers have been used). Ruby-throats use spider webs to bind the nest together, and cover it with lichen and bark for camouflage. Spider web allows the nest to expand as the babies grow! The female raises the young herself.

Feeding: Hummingbirds preferred food is nectar and they are attracted to red tubular flowers. They readily feed from sugar-water mixtures in home feeders and are extremely protective of these feeding sites. Ruby-throats also eat insects such as gnats, spiders and aphids. With such a high metabolism they need to eat roughly half their weight in insects and nectar every day.

Interesting facts: The ruby-throat will eat spiders and spider eggs, in addition to stealing the insects which are trapped in a spiders’ web; however, this type of feeding can cause their demise if they get tangled up in the web.

Ruby-throats are also part of the food chain. They are a meal for hawks, large frogs, large-mouth bass and feral cats. I once saw a lizard attack a ruby-throat that was feeding close to it. The lizard grabbed the hummer by its head. A struggle ensued and the hummer eventually broke loose, with head feathers left standing straight up like a Mohawk. It’s not easy being green or tiny.

Hummers can fly backwards, sideways, upside down and hover in the air. Ruby-throats beat their wings up to eighty times per second while hovering. This activity burns a lot of calories and hummers feed often, sometimes fifteen times per hour.

When food is scarce or on cool evenings, ruby-throats can enter into a state of torpor. They lower their body temperatures to conserve energy, slowing their heartbeat and breathing.

People fear ruby-throats will abandon migration if their feeders stay up. Hummingbird expert Nancy Newfield says the only way ruby-throats won’t migrate is if they are physically put in a cage. Biologists believe the ruby-throats that remain during winter are those that lack adequate fat reserves to make the journey across the Gulf.

Most people take their feeders down in late fall once the ruby-throats migrate but DON’T! Louisiana has hosted thirteen different species of wintering hummingbirds, the most common being the Rufous. Other wintering hummers banded in south Louisiana include the Black-chinned, Buff-bellied, Calliope (the tiniest), Broad-tailed and Allen’s Hummingbird. The winter season is described as beginning in late July/early August and ending in March and April.

Some of the wintering hummingbirds, such as the Rufous, breed in the Pacific Northwest and pass through Louisiana en route to Central Mexico for the winter. These wintering hummingbirds end their migration route along the Gulf Coast instead of continuing to Mexico. Scientists are not sure why but suspect they are expanding their winter range as a result of global warming, habitat destruction in the tropics and our mild winters.

To attract wintering hummers to your yard, mix one cup sugar to three cups water for a nectar solution. Wintering hummers need a higher concentration of sugar when flower nectar and insects are not as plentiful. Until the weather cools, a mixture of one cup sugar to four cups of water is the right mix for the ruby-throats trying to fatten up before migrating. Happy birding!