Ruby-throated Hummingbird

A male ruby-throated hummingbird in flight

The tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird ( Archilochus colubris ) is a strikingly colorful bird that is found in the eastern parts of the U.S. and Canada.

Features

His name has the ruby ​​-throated hummingbird by its plumage, the metallic gleams in the sun in many colors. In the shadows, however, the plumage is dull.

The ruby ​​-throated hummingbird has the least number of springs of all known birds. Its length is usually four inches and its wings span twelve inches. With the weight of three grams, it is extremely light. Through its long beak that is curved at the end sometimes, he lets out a short, high-frequency beeping.

Way of life

The habitats of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are forests, orchards and gardens. There you'll see it often around whiz in Schwirrflug. The oldest well-known copy in the wilderness has died at age five. The normal life expectancy of three years.

Courtship and breeding biology

After their first winter, the males reach the nesting areas and seek out areas. Once the females arrive, they are wooed into Balzflügen, with the male in completed sheet flights back and herfliegt. Thereafter, the pair whizzes up and down each other.

The nest is made of leaves, lichens and downy plant material that is held together by cobwebs. It is located about six feet above the ground on a tree. Between March and July, the female lays one or two eggs which she incubates 16 days. Then it draws the boys high 22 to 24 days, while the male does not care about the rearing of the young.

Food

Due to their ability to fly, which allows them forward to fly sideways and backwards as well as easy to stand in the air, buzzing insects Rubinkehlkolibiris can as before flowers and introduce her thin beak in the corollas. They suck with their tongues rolled out the nectar. They especially love red flowers. Preferred plants include honeysuckle, lilac, petunia and watercress. They relate not only their food from the flowers, but they also pollinate and contribute in this way to the fact that their food supply is secured for the next year. The nectar supplies the Hummingbird with the vital sugar; sometimes it will also eat insects and spiders.

Proliferation and threat

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds winter in Central America and the West Indies and breed in eastern North America. In between, she lay back a 3000 -kilometer train, including a 1000 -kilometer-long non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico.

Because of its small size and low weight, the hummingbird has many natural enemies such as dragonflies, praying mantises or frogs. Some get caught in spider webs or be impaled on thistles. Although, due to their colorful feathers were popular collectibles in the 19th century and taxidermy specimens often hung in the Victorian period in the living rooms, the stock was thus hardly affected. Currently, they are not threatened and to be seen in the main distribution areas often.