Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird Nest

Female ruby throated hummingbird feeding young in nest.

Female ruby throated hummingbird nest.

Once the shape of the nest is set the female camouflages it with lichen and other plant items. Like the male the upperparts of the female ruby throated hummingbird are a shimmery. Almost all hummingbirds of 7 years or more in age are females with males rarely surviving past 5 years of age. The oldest known ruby throated hummingbird to be banded was 9 years and 1 month of age.

The ruby throated hummingbird nest is typically constructed of spider silk and plant materials. It is typically placed in a protected location in a shrub bush or tree. The silk is especially important since it allows the nest to expand as soon to be hatched chicks grow. Approximately two weeks later the females will arrive.

Hovering in front of a flower to sip nectar it beats its wings more than 50 times per second. For hummingbirds like the ruby throated hummingbird the males will return from their winter migration lands in mexico and central america in mid march. The auriculars of the female ruby throated hummingbird are distinctly gray though the amount of gray coloration can vary this contrasts well with the pale throat and green head. Ty ivey gnpa the ruby throats we will see in our backyards this summer are a combination males and females that bred locally and their offspring as well as migrants en route to points south.

Female ruby throated hummingbird taking various defensive and evasive actions around a man made feeder. As soon as mating is over the female ruby throated hummingbird has little to do with the male or vice versa she selects a suitable place for her nest often atop a small downward slanting branch overhanging an open area or stream but sometimes on a large horizontal limb and then spends many hours collecting spider webs and plant parts that she weaves into a small. The nest is generally constructed on a small downward sloping tree limb 10 60 feet 3 18 m above the ground with an average of about 15 feet 4 5 m. A flash of green and red the ruby throated hummingbird is eastern north america s sole breeding hummingbird.

Hundreds of kinds of hummingbirds nest in the american tropics and more than a dozen in the western u s but east of the great plains there is only the ruby throat. The males use the intervening time to claim and defend a territory suitable for building a nest. Like the male ruby throated hummingbird a white spot is easily visible behind the female s dark eye. Feeders and flower gardens are great ways to attract these birds and some people turn their yards into buzzing clouds of hummingbirds each summer.

There it is fairly common in summer in open woods and gardens.