Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Adult males have a brilliant iridescent ruby-red throat, a white collar, and metallic green upperparts. Females and immatures lack the red throat, having a white throat (sometimes lightly spotted), grayish flanks, and rounded tail feathers tipped with white.

Metallic green back, whitish underparts, and rounded tail with white tips (visible in females/immatures), coupled with the distinct lack of a red throat on females.

Length: 7-9 cm (2.8-3.5 in), Wingspan: 8-11 cm (3.1-4.3 in), Weight: 2-6 g (0.07-0.21 oz)

A series of rapid, high-pitched chipping notes, often described as a squeaky chitter.

Nectar from flowers and small insects/spiders for protein, foraged by hovering or catching insects mid-air.

Deciduous and mixed woodlands, forest edges, orchards, meadows, and suburban gardens with flowering plants.

Migratory; travels thousands of miles twice a year, including a non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico.

Builds a tiny, cup-shaped nest using plant fibers and spider silk, camouflaged with lichen on a downward-sloping tree branch. Clutch size is typically 2 white eggs.

Black-chinned Hummingbird, which has a darker face and purple gorget in males, though females are very difficult to distinguish.

Acts as an important pollinator for many native wildflowers and tubular plants, transferring pollen while feeding on nectar.

Least Concern, with stable or increasing populations

Set up a nectar feeder or plant red, tubular flowers in the garden; be ready with a fast shutter speed camera as they move extremely quickly.

Their wings can beat at about 53 beats per second during normal flight, and their hearts can reach over 1,200 beats per minute.