Transcript:

Hello you and welcome to this fact file! Today we’re going to be looking at the ruby-throated hummingbird.

There are hundreds of different species of hummingbirds in the world but the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only hummingbird that breeds in eastern North America. It is still possible to sight other species of hummingbirds in that area of the world, though they’re far less common; you’re more likely to see Chester trying to be a hummingbird.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are incredibly small, weighing only a tenth of an ounce. That’s like a tenth of a slice of bread. In other words, you would need ten hummingbirds to balance out a scale with a single slice of bread on the other end. Yes, yes, they are hollow-boned birds which makes weighing next to nothing fairly easy but still: ten hummingbirds = 1 bread. Anyway, they are around three inches from beak tip to tail tip and their wingspan is around four inches. They beat their wings just over 50 times a second, and that’s what makes them “hum.” They can fly as fast as 63 miles per hour during a dive but typically hover around 30 miles per hour. Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t use the word hover in that sense. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, like other hummingbirds, are extremely acrobatic in the air. They can fly in any direction (including backwards and even upside down) and can stop on a dime. When they stop, they really do hover in the air, kind of like a helicopter. It’s pretty good for these little birds they are able to fly so fast because they’re actually migratory, some traveling distances from Canada to Costa Rica. During their migration, many ruby-throated hummingbirds will cross the Gulf of Mexico in a single eighteen-to-twenty-hour flight.

In preparation for their migration, ruby-throated hummingbirds will eat enough to gain twice their average body weight. On a typical day they will consume nearly twice their body weight, in preparation for migration it’s nearly double this. They eat nectar from tubular flowers such as honeysuckle or morning glories. Because of this they are pollinators, like bees. They also eat insects like mosquitos and fruit flies and occasionally even spiders. Homeowners can also put out hummingbird feeders with a sugar water nectar which will attract ruby-throated hummingbirds and help the birds in building fat reserves. They need to eat so much to maintain enough energy for their rapid wing-beats and movements.

When it comes to mating, the males will perform “dances” when a female enters their territories. After they mate, the male will move on leaving the female to raise the young on her own. She will build a nest roughly the size of a walnut up to fifty feet off the ground (though typically she’ll stay in the ten to twenty foot range). She will lay a clutch of one to three tiny, white eggs and spend up to 80% of her time for the next two weeks incubating them. After they hatch, she will continue to feed them for the next three weeks until they are ready to fledge, or leave the nest. She’ll continue to feed them for a few days after they leave and by the time they are ready to set off on their own they will weigh almost double what their mother does thanks to her dutiful and tenacious feeding schedule. A female ruby-throated hummingbird will do this up to three times per year. Although we aren’t entirely sure how long they live, the oldest documented ruby-throated hummingbird was a female over nine years old.

Some myths about ruby throated hummingbirds are that they hitch rides on larger birds in order to complete their migration. This is untrue as the tiny birds are more than capable to make the trip on their own, but this myth was brought about by a hunter who shot a goose and saw a hummingbird fly from the feathers when he went to claim it. Another myth about hummingbirds in general is that they don’t have feet. Again, this is untrue as they do have very tiny feet it just so happens that these feet are rather useless to the bird for any means of mobility. They can only really perch using their feet and can barely manage a stumbling walk. This, of course dispels the myth that hummingbirds never land. They do land to perch and usually do so to survey their territory. Also, for anyone who thinks they’ve seen a “baby” hummingbird flitting about, they may have seen what is called a hummingbird moth which we’ll cover another day!

To the Taino people, who are native to Florida and the Caribbean, the hummingbird is a symbol as a spreader of life across the Earth. Their histories state that hummingbirds were once flies that the sun god, Agueybana, transformed into little birds. Taino warriors are called hummingbirds because the hummingbird is peaceful but it fiercely protects it homeland.

For more information on the ruby-throated hummingbird, feel free to browse through my citations in the description below. Let me know which animal you’d like to see next in the comment. Thank you for watching and please like and subscribe for more Animal Fact Files!