Small but fiesty, he swiftly rushes to the scene, wielding an approximately 17.3 mm black sword. He chases a fellow member of his species away from the breakfast table, giving high-pitched chattering and buzzing noises. Once the intruder has fled, he proudly seats himself upon a small twig to watch for other thieves. This little knight has no metal coat; instead, he boasts a handsome one of reddish-orange and green overlapping feathers, shining in the sunshine. Although he carries no shield with his coat of arms, nor does he ride a horse, he is reminiscent of a medieval knight, defending his castle from invasions.
And who is this fascinating tiny creature? Why, the Rufous Hummingbird, fiercest hummer of North America and the ABA’s 2014 Bird of the Year (BOY).
Like other hummingbirds, the Rufous is tiny, with females weighing about 3.5 grams and males about 3.2. That’s only a little more than a penny! They are approximately 3.75 inches long, with a bill length between 15 and 19 millimeters, and a wing length of about 4.5 inches.
What they lack in size, they make up for in aggressiveness. The first observers of the species noted this, calling it “jealous courage”1 and also saying, “when they are not fighting among themselves they make war upon other birds.”3 Or, in the case of one unfortunate creature, chipmunks:
Another intruder was a chipmunk….he was searching for huckleberries…his occupation brought him almost beneath the hummer’s nest. She darted after him…fill[ing]him with terror. He beat a hasty retreat, squealing lustily as he ran.2
Even during migration, Rufous Hummingbirds display this behavior at stopover sites, chasing everything that might be considered an invader.
Speaking of migration, these guys are champions. A normal trip for some is more than 2,00 miles! Or, in other words, a 3,900-mile journey from Alaska to Mexico is equivalent to 78,470,000 body lengths.4 Putting it in this perspective, makes it seem even more extraordinary. Although most make the long journey to Mexico, members of the species are often found wandering around the East and Gulf Coasts, during the winter, where they adapt fairly well to the colder temperatures. During the rest of the year, they can be found, shifting around like knights between their castles, spending spring in sunny California, summer in the states and provinces between Oregon and Alaska, and fall in the Rocky Mountains.
To carry them on these wanderings, the Rufous Hummingbird has both the fastest heartrate (500 beats per minute at rest, 1260 flying5), and the fastest wingbeats (52–62 wingbeats per second6) of all birds. With all this activity, they have to eat a lot. Imagine having to dine up to eight times an hour7 and drinking four to eight times your body weight8, just to keep yourself going!
What’s on the menu for these speedy guys? Nectar from flowers such as lilies, columnbine, larkspurs, and Indian paintbrush, as well as gnats, flies, and other tiny flying insects. Observers in the early 1900s wrote of the Rufous Hummingbird’s love red flowers, especially columbine, saying that “One…actually crossed a wide meadow of green brakes straight to a single columbine standing most inconspicuously near the woods.”9 Another observer noted that “any spot of red would attract them as it does other hummers, and they investigated it fearlessly even when it adorned the person of a collector.”10
The brilliant scarlet of the rufous hummer’s gorget, which often glows like burnished gold, puts it in the front rank as a gleaming gem, a feathered ball of fire.11
Rufous on their flanks, tails, and heads and white bellies complete this spectacular little bird. The females and juveniles also have rufous flanks and white bellies, but they feature an iridescent green back and head as well. Allen’s Hummingbird, a similarly plumaged close relative, can be distinguished from the Rufous by looking at the tail, but this isn’t always true for young birds, so, when in doubt, noting Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird is acceptable, even in eBird.
After mating, females build nests, mostly of spiderwebs,