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, where they lay two eggs. Spider silk is an excellent choice, as it is lightweight and sticky. Another benefit is that it can stretch up to 40% of it’s length without breaking12, perfect for growing hummer chicks.
Rufous Hummingbirds are listed as Least Concern according to the IUCN. With such swift speeds, they aren’t easy to catch, but venomous spiders, wasps, hornets, snakes, and domestic cats are their main predators. Flying into windows also takes its toll, often killing the bird.
Whether you are an old fan of these hummingbirds, or hoping to add it to your life list this year, the Rufous Hummingbird is yet another great Bird of the Year choice. They might not ride horses, wear armor, or carry shields, but they are just as quick to stop invasions as knights of old. Here’s to 2014 and the Rufuous Hummingbird!
1http://www.birdzilla.com/birds/Rufous-Hummingbird/bent_life_history.html (behavior paragraph 1)
2Ibid (behavior paragraph 1 [brackets for clarity])
3Ibid (behavior paragraph 4)
4http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rufous_Hummingbird/lifehistory (Cool Fact #2)
5http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_hummingbirds.php (Hummer Facts #2)
6http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rufous_Hummingbird/lifehistory (Cool Fact #6)
7http://www.backyardchirper.com/blog/10-fun-facts-about-hummingbirds/ (Fact #9)
8http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_hummingbirds.php (Hummer Facts #8)
9http://www.birdzilla.com/birds/Rufous-Hummingbird/bent_life_history.html (food paragraph 5)
10http://www.birdzilla.com/birds/Rufous-Hummingbird/bent_life_history.html (food paragraph 4)
11http://www.birdzilla.com/birds/Rufous-Hummingbird/bent_life_history.html (paragraph 1)
12http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/Birdscope/Spring2008/spider_silk.html (paragraph 2)