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Classification

• Order: Apodiformes
• Family: Trochilidés
• Genus: Archilochus
• Species: colubris

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DESCRIPTOR

• Linnaeus, 1758

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biometrics

• Size: 9 cm
• Wingspan: 8 to 11 cm
• Lifespan: 9 years

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Distribution

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BIRD SONG

Sound recorder : Manuel Grosselet

Find out more about the bird song

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IUCN CONSERVATION STATUS

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IDENTIFICATION

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird can be recognised by its long, dark, slightly curved beak. The mating male has green plumage with iridescent highlights. There is a fine white patch behind the eye. A thick black line runs across the top of the ear coverts, from the lores to the top of the cheeks, forming more than a broad moustache. The ruby-coloured throat is highlighted by a regular white line that separates the head from the top of the chest. The rest of the dark grey underparts are framed by greenish flanks. The wings are dark, and the tail is forked and brown on the outer rectrices. The central rectrices are as green as the back. The feet are dark.
Females resemble males but their throat and chin are white with dark flecks. The tail is less forked and the outer rectrices are rounded with white tips. The Black-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus aleandri) cannot be confused with the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Immatures have a more or less ruby-stained chin.

HABITAT

During the nesting season, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds frequent deciduous forests and mixed woodlands, as well as parks, regenerating plots and gardens up to 1,500 metres above sea level. During the winter, they change the areas in which they live, choosing a variety of tropical forests and scrubland. However, they are mainly found in dry lowland forests and in modified plots up to 1,900 metres.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are native to North America, Canada, the United States and Mexico, from Nova Scotia and the Great Lakes to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. They winter in Central America from the Isthmus of Tehuantépec to the Panama Canal. These birds are absent west of the Missouri River.

Threat – protection

The various ornithological organisations agree on at least one point: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are in slight decline in the eastern United States. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are fairly difficult to spot except near feeders, and even less is known about them in winter. There are many protected areas in Costa Rica. There are also national parks, from which valuable information could be extracted, but new sources of information would be really useful.