- Archilochus colubris
Identification
3 1/2" (9 cm).
- Tiny
- Needle-like bill
- Metallic green above, white below
- Buff sides
- White-tipped outer tail feathers
Male
Brilliant, iridescent red throat.
Immature Male
Lacks red throat.
Female
Lacks red throat
Distribution
The only hummingbird that breeds east of Mississippi River. Breeds from southern Canada to Gulf Coast. Winters mainly in tropics, rarely on Gulf Coast.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Suburban gardens, parks, and woodlands.
Behaviour
Breeding
2 white eggs in a woven nest of plant down held together with spider silk and covered with lichens. Nest is saddled to the branch of a tree, usually in a forest clearing.
These diminutive birds are particularly attracted to tubular red flowers such as salvia and trumpet creeper, as well as bee balm, petunia, jewelweed, and thistle. Hummers are also attracted to artificial feeders-red glass tubes filled with sweet liquid.
With their remarkable powers of flight, they are the only birds that can fly backward as well as hover in one spot like insects. They are constantly in motion, perching on twigs or wires only briefly to rest and to survey their surroundings, or when they are at the nest.
During courtship, the female sits quietly on a perch while the male displays in a pendulum dance, swinging in a wide arc and buzzing loudly with each dip.
