Animal
Ruby-throated hummingbird
The ruby-throated hummingbird is a tiny bird that can hover in the air. It drinks sweet nectar from flowers.
The ruby-throated hummingbird is the only hummingbird that nests in eastern North America. It weighs only 2 to 6 grams, beats its wings about 53 times a second and can fly forward, backward and hover in one spot. Each fall it flies south to Mexico and Central America for the winter.
Archilochus colubris is a 2 to 6 gram hummingbird with the largest breeding range, by area, of any North American hummingbird, across eastern North America and the Canadian prairies. It feeds on nectar and small insects, raises its young without help from the male, and migrates to Mexico and Central America for the winter, some birds crossing the Gulf of Mexico.
Photo: Joe Schneid, Louisville, Kentucky, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the ruby-throated hummingbird
The ruby-throated hummingbird is very, very small.
Its back is shiny green. Boys have a bright red throat. Its wings move very, very fast.
The ruby-throated hummingbird is only 7 to 9 centimeters long and weighs just 2 to 6 grams. Cornell describes it as sparrow-sized or smaller.
Both males and females have shiny green backs. The adult male has a glittering red throat, which can look black until the light hits it just right. The male in our photo shows that red throat. The female has a whitish throat and white tips on her outer tail feathers. It is the only hummingbird that nests in eastern North America.
Archilochus colubris (family Trochilidae) measures 7 to 9 centimeters, with a wingspan of 8 to 11 centimeters and a mass of 2 to 6 grams; Audubon notes the female is slightly larger. The bill is long, slender and slightly downcurved.
Adults are bright emerald or golden-green above. The adult male's gorget is iridescent red and appears dark or black except at the right angle, and his forked tail is black. Females are whitish below, lack the red throat and have white tips on the outer tail feathers. Immature males show a few red throat feathers.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.07 to 0.09 m
- Wingspan
- 0.08 to 0.11 m
- Weight
- 0 to 0.01 kg
Summer north, winter south
In summer these hummingbirds live in North America.
They visit gardens, parks and the edges of woods. In fall they fly far south, where it is warm.
In spring and summer ruby-throats live in eastern North America and across the Canadian prairies. Look for them in open woodlands, forest edges, meadows, orchards, parks and backyards with flowers or feeders.
By early fall they head south. Nearly all of them spend the winter between Mexico and Costa Rica or Panama, in dry forests, scrub, hedgerows and citrus groves. Some cross the Gulf of Mexico on the way, while many follow the coast of Texas.
Cornell describes breeding habitat as deciduous woodland in eastern North America and across the Canadian prairies, especially old fields, forest edges, meadows, orchards, stream borders and gardens. In terms of area this is the largest breeding range of any North American hummingbird.
Nearly all birds leave North America in fall, wintering from Mexico to Costa Rica or Panama in dry forest, citrus groves, hedgerows and scrub rather than rainforest. Audubon notes that some cross the Gulf of Mexico while many travel around it along the Texas coast. Males may start south by early August, and in spring males arrive before females.
Continent
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
- Visits for part of the year · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Breeds in woodland edges, meadows, orchards, parks and gardens across eastern North America and the Canadian prairies. Mexico is part of the wintering range too.
Places: Canada, United States and Mexico.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and 10 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Visits for part of the year · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Winters in dry forest, scrub, hedgerows and citrus groves from Mexico through Central America to Costa Rica and Panama. Some birds pass through Cuba and the Bahamas on migration.
Places: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Nectar and tiny insects
Hummingbirds drink sweet nectar from flowers.
They like red and orange flowers best. They also catch tiny bugs to eat.
Ruby-throats drink nectar from red or orange tube-shaped flowers, such as trumpet creeper, cardinal flower, honeysuckle, jewelweed and bee balm. They hover in front of the flower and push their long bill and long tongue deep inside.
Nectar is not their only food. They snatch mosquitoes, gnats and fruit flies out of the air, pick insects out of spider webs and take small caterpillars and aphids from leaves. They also visit sugar-water feeders and sometimes sip tree sap.
Nectar comes mainly from red or orange tubular flowers, including trumpet creeper, cardinal flower, honeysuckle, jewelweed, bee-balm, red buckeye and red morning glory, plus feeders and sometimes tree sap. Birds usually feed while hovering, extending the bill and long tongue into the flower.
Protein comes from small arthropods: mosquitoes, gnats, fruit flies and small bees caught in flight, spiders and trapped insects taken from webs, insects drawn to sap wells, and caterpillars and aphids gleaned from leaves. Like many birds, hummingbirds have good color vision that extends into the ultraviolet.
Did you know?
Boy hummingbirds guard their flowers from a lookout.
A male ruby-throat often watches over his patch from a perch, ready to chase other hummingbirds away from flowers and feeders.
Males defend flowers and feeders aggressively, sometimes sitting on a small twig keeping a lookout between chases.
A tiny flying machine
A hummingbird can hover in one place, like a helicopter.
It can even fly backward! Its legs are so short that it cannot walk or hop.
A ruby-throat beats its wings about 53 times every second, so fast they look like a blur. It can zoom forward, stop in an instant, hang still in the air and move up, down, sideways or backward.
Its legs are so short that it cannot walk or hop. The best it can do is shuffle along a twig. To scratch its head, it lifts a foot up and over its wing.
Like all hummingbirds, ruby-throats are precision fliers: they can fly flat out, stop instantly, hover motionless and shift up, down, sideways and backward with fine control. Cornell gives a wingbeat rate of about 53 beats per second; Audubon says more than 50 while hovering.
The legs are extremely short, so the bird cannot walk or hop and only shuffles along a perch; it scratches its head by raising a foot over the wing. The slender, slightly downcurved bill and long tongue reach nectar deep in tubular flowers.
A nest the size of a thimble
The mother hummingbird builds a tiny nest.
She uses soft plant fluff and spider silk. She lays two tiny white eggs and raises the babies by herself.
The female does everything. She builds a nest about 5 centimeters across on top of a thin branch, using thistle or dandelion fluff held together with spider silk, and decorates the outside with bits of lichen and moss. The nest walls stay soft and bendy, so the nest can stretch as the chicks grow.
She lays one to three white eggs, each weighing about half a gram, and keeps them warm for 12 to 14 days. The chicks hatch almost naked with their eyes closed. They leave the nest after about 18 to 22 days.
Males leave after mating, which takes days to weeks, and females raise one or two broods (Audubon: sometimes three) alone. The nest takes six to ten days to build: about 5 centimeters across and 2.5 deep, with an inner cup the size of a large thimble, made of plant down bound with spider silk and sometimes pine resin, and covered with lichen and moss. It sits on top of a slender branch, usually 3 to 12 meters up.
Clutches are one to three eggs of about half a gram each, incubated by the female for 12 to 14 days. Hatchlings are naked apart from two tracts of gray down; the nestling period is 18 to 22 days. The oldest known ruby-throat, a female, was at least 9 years 2 months old.
Tiny but bold
Boy hummingbirds guard their flowers.
They chase other hummingbirds away. To show off, a boy swoops down and up again, in a big U shape.
Ruby-throats may be tiny, but they are fierce. Males defend flowers and feeders, chasing intruders in spectacular dogfights and sometimes jabbing them with their bills.
When a female enters his territory, a male shows off with a looping dive shaped like a U, starting as high as 15 meters above her. If she perches, he switches to quick side-to-side flights right in front of her. After that, he plays no part in raising the young.
Males aggressively defend nectar sources, leading to high-speed chases and occasional jabs with the bill, although they usually give way to larger hummingbird species in Mexico and to the aggressive rufous hummingbird.
Courtship begins with a looping, U-shaped dive from as high as about 15 meters above the female; if she perches, he shifts to rapid side-to-side shuttle flights while facing her. Pairs stay together only for courtship and mating, and Cornell notes that males may begin migrating by early August.
Did you know?
A hummingbird egg weighs about half a gram.
Each ruby-throat egg weighs about half a gram, less than one-fiftieth of an ounce.
The tiny white eggs weigh about half a gram, laid in a nest cup about the size of a large thimble.
Is it in danger?
Ruby-throated hummingbirds are not in danger.
Their numbers have grown for many years. People can bring them close by planting flowers and putting out clean feeders.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds are doing well. The IUCN Red List rates them Least Concern, and their numbers rose every year from 1966 to 2019. Partners in Flight estimated in 2020 that about 36 million breed in the world.
Feeders are generally safe, but they need to be kept clean, because sugar water goes bad fast in hot weather. Placing them away from windows and out of reach of cats helps keep the birds safe.
The global assessment (IUCN, 2020) lists Archilochus colubris as Least Concern. The North American Breeding Bird Survey recorded steady increases every year from 1966 to 2019, and Partners in Flight (2020) estimates a global breeding population of 36 million, with a low Continental Concern Score of 8 out of 20.
Cornell advises sugar water of about one-quarter cup of sugar per cup of water, no food coloring, and frequent changes, since it ferments quickly in heat. Feeders can be a hazard if they make birds easy prey for cats or are placed near windows.
IUCN Red List
How is the ruby-throated hummingbird doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
A hummingbird's wings beat about 53 times every second.
A ruby-throat beats its wings about 53 times a second.
Cornell gives a wingbeat rate of about 53 per second for this species.
-
Hummingbirds cannot walk or hop.
A ruby-throat's legs are so short it can't walk or hop. It scratches its head by lifting a foot over its wing.
Extremely short legs restrict ruby-throats to shuffling along perches.
-
A hummingbird egg weighs about half a gram.
Each ruby-throat egg weighs about half a gram, less than one-fiftieth of an ounce.
The tiny white eggs weigh about half a gram, laid in a nest cup about the size of a large thimble.
-
Hummingbird nests can stretch as the babies grow.
The nest's walls stay soft and bendy, so the nest stretches as the chicks get bigger.
The female stiffens the nest's base but its walls stay pliable, so the cup stretches as nestlings grow.
-
Boy hummingbirds guard their flowers from a lookout.
A male ruby-throat often watches over his patch from a perch, ready to chase other hummingbirds away from flowers and feeders.
Males defend flowers and feeders aggressively, sometimes sitting on a small twig keeping a lookout between chases.
Words to know
- hover
- to stay in one place in the air
- nectar
- the sweet juice inside flowers
- migrate
- to travel a long way to a different place for part of the year
- gorget
- a patch of shiny colored feathers on a bird's throat
- territory
- an area an animal defends from others
- lichen
- a crusty, plant-like growth found on trees and rocks
Discovery challenge
-
What can a hummingbird do?
Which of these can a ruby-throated hummingbird do?
Which flight ability does the ruby-throated hummingbird have?
- Fly backward and hover
- Swim under water
- Fly only in circles
Show the answer
Fly backward and hover
Hummingbirds can hover and even fly backward.
It can hover, stop instantly and fly backward.
It can hover motionless and adjust position up, down, sideways and backward.
-
Where do ruby-throats go in winter?
Where do most ruby-throated hummingbirds spend the winter?
Where is the ruby-throated hummingbird's wintering range?
- Mexico and Central America
- The North Pole
- Australia
Show the answer
Mexico and Central America
They fly south to warm places.
Nearly all fly south to spend the winter between Mexico and Costa Rica or Panama.
From Mexico through Central America to Costa Rica and Panama.
-
Who looks after hummingbird babies?
Who builds the nest and raises the chicks?
Which parent raises ruby-throated hummingbird young?
- Only the mother
- Only the father
- A whole flock
Show the answer
Only the mother
The mother does it all by herself.
The female builds the nest, sits on the eggs and feeds the chicks.
The female alone; males leave after courtship and mating.
-
What holds a hummingbird nest together?
What does a ruby-throat use to hold its nest together?
Which material binds the plant down of the nest together?
- Spider silk
- Mud
- String from people
Show the answer
Spider silk
Spider silk holds the nest together.
Spider silk holds the thistle or dandelion fluff together.
Spider silk binds the plant down, sometimes with pine resin, into a nest whose walls stay pliable as the young grow.
Experiments to try
- Watch What If? Lab What if your heart were as small as a mouse’s? A resting mouse's heart can beat more than 550 times a minute; yours beats about 60 to 100 times. A blue whale's heart has been measured as slow as 2 beats a minute. Explore why small animals have racing hearts and big animals slow ones, and why your heart is just the right size for you.
- Watch What If? Lab What if all flowers were the same color? Flower colors are signals. Bees go for blue and yellow, hummingbirds for red, and night-flying moths for white. Imagine a world where every flower was the same color: how would pollinators find the right flowers, and what might happen to the plants?
Explore next
-
Watch
Animal
Bee hummingbird
The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest living bird: about 5.5 to 6 centimeters long and weighing only about 2 grams. It hovers in front of small flowers to sip nectar, also eats tiny insects and spiders, and lays eggs the size of peas.
-
Watch
3D
Animal
Monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly is famous for its bright orange wings and its amazing journey. Each fall, monarchs from eastern North America fly up to 3,000 miles to mountain forests in Mexico, where they spend the winter clustered together on fir trees. Their caterpillars eat only milkweed, which makes them taste bad to predators.
- Watch What If? Lab What if your heart were as small as a mouse’s? A resting mouse's heart can beat more than 550 times a minute; yours beats about 60 to 100 times. A blue whale's heart has been measured as slow as 2 beats a minute. Explore why small animals have racing hearts and big animals slow ones, and why your heart is just the right size for you.
- Watch What If? Lab What if all flowers were the same color? Flower colors are signals. Bees go for blue and yellow, hummingbirds for red, and night-flying moths for white. Imagine a world where every flower was the same color: how would pollinators find the right flowers, and what might happen to the plants?
-
Watch
Animal
Adélie penguin
The Adélie penguin is a medium-sized penguin, about 70 centimeters tall, with a black back, a white front and a bright white ring around each eye. It breeds in summer on rocky, ice-free ground all around Antarctica, building nests of pebbles, and spends the winter far out at sea among the pack ice.
-
Watch
Animal
African fish eagle
The African fish eagle is a big eagle of Africa's lakes, rivers and coasts, with a white head, chest and tail and a chestnut-brown body. It snatches fish from the surface of the water, and its loud, ringing call is one of the best-known sounds of Africa.
-
Watch
Animal
African penguin
The African penguin is a penguin of warm, sunny coasts. It lives only in South Africa and Namibia, nests in burrows and under bushes, and hunts sardines and anchovies in the cold sea. Its numbers have fallen so far that it is now Critically Endangered, and people are working hard to protect it.
-
Watch
Animal
American crow
The American crow is an all-black bird found across much of North America, from fields and beaches to city centers. It eats almost anything, lives in close family groups, gathers in huge winter roosts, and a University of Washington study found that wild crows can recognize and remember a human face.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how the ruby-throated hummingbird's wings, bill and legs suit a hovering nectar-feeder.
- Explain that ruby-throats migrate between North America and Central America.
- Describe the nest and how the female raises the young alone.
- Explain how people can help hummingbirds safely.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might a hummingbird that drinks nectar also need to eat insects?
- How could such a tiny bird make such a long journey?
- What would you plant in a garden to help hummingbirds?
Try at home or in class
- Weigh out 3 grams of rice on a kitchen scale and hold it in your palm to feel how light a ruby-throat is.
- Count how many times you can flap your arms in one second, then compare with a hummingbird's 53 wingbeats.
Key vocabulary: hover, nectar, migrate, gorget, territory, lichen
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Archilochus colubris (Ruby-throated Hummingbird), Red List assessment 2020 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird overview , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird: Life History (nesting) , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird identification , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird , National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.