The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
It is the beginning of summer, and you're enjoying the outdoors. From the corner of your eye, you glimpse a creature that is beating its wings so fast you can hardly see them moving. You think the creature might be a bee. A closer look reveals that it is a bird. It is a ruby-throated hummingbird.
A ruby-throated hummingbird is small. It weighs less than one ounce and measures three to four inches from the tip of its beak to the end of its tail.
Its colors are vibrant. The males and the females look similar. Both have bright emerald-green heads, wings, backs, and tails. The birds are named for the ruby-red throats that the males have. The females, however, have white throats.
The ruby-throated hummingbird can be seen moving from one flower to the next while beating its wings more than 50 times per second. This rapid movement of the wings causes the humming noise that these birds are known for.
A hummingbird’s wing has only one movable joint, which is the shoulder. This special joint and powerful flight muscles allow a hummingbird to fly in any direction. It zooms up, down, sideways, and backward. Its usual speed is 20 to 30 miles an hour. It can fly up to 50 miles an hour, which is a lot faster than many other birds.
The ruby-throated hummingbird looks for tube-shaped flowers to get nectar, but it will visit other flowers if needed. The hummingbird hovers in front of a flower, places its beak into the center of the flower, and drinks the sweet liquid nectar. Sometimes hummingbirds eat small bugs found on plant leaves, tree bark, and shrubs.
You might think ruby-throated hummingbirds eat only a small amount of food, but this would be incorrect. These birds can eat more than two times as much as they weigh. Why do they eat so much? One reason is because of their constant activity. Another reason is to prepare for a long journey.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate hundreds of miles. They spend much of the spring and summer in southern Canada and in the eastern and midwestern parts of the United States. Females build their nests and raise their families during this time.
At the end of the summer, the weather becomes cooler and their favorite flowers are probably no longer in bloom. So the hummingbirds prepare to migrate south.
They spend late fall and winter in Mexico and Central America, where the weather is warmer and food is available.
To prepare for this long journey, some hummingbirds may double their weight. This will give them the strength to fly more than 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.
As winter comes to an ens, ruby-throated hummingbirds return north once again. If you look closely, you just might see one.