Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird
(Selasphorus rufus)
Rufous Hummingbirds are long-distance migrants. Throughout the West, they use a wide variety of habitats on their southward migration, including lowland stream bottoms, brush land, chaparral, and high mountain meadows almost to tree line. Most spend the winter in central Mexico. Rufous Hummingbirds are common migrants from late June to August in the West. Some winter along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Louisiana, where they are the most common winter hummingbird. Vagrants have been recorded in all of the eastern states and provinces as far north as Nova Scotia, with most sightings occurring in November and December. The species migrates northward entirely along the Pacific Coast. Rufous Hummingbirds migrate very early in spring, arriving in Oregon by early March and Alaska by mid-April. They breed at higher latitudes than any other species of hummingbird--from northern California to southern Yukon and southeastern Alaska.

Notoriously pugnacious, Rufous Hummingbirds defend temporary feeding territories even while on migration. An individual's ability to maintain a territory correlates with age, sex, and intensity of competition with neighboring hummingbirds. Adult males usually dominate. Although they defend both feeding and nesting territories, Rufous Hummingbirds sometimes nest as close as a few yards apart. A dozen or more nests may be in a small area. Nest sites are usually less than 15 feet off the ground in a vine, shrub, or drooping branch of a conifer. They are typically sheltered by overhanging vegetation. Banding returns show a strong tendency to return to the same breeding sites, and nests are sometimes reused in subsequent years.

Males arrive on the breeding grounds several weeks before the females. When the females arrive, males begin their distinctive aerial displays. The male flies in a series of slanting ovals that are broader at the bottom than the top. While the female perches quietly below, the male ascends with his back to her. When he reaches the top of his flight, he turns and displays his scarlet throat feathers, or gorget. Then he dives steeply, swooping upward at the bottom within inches of his prospective mate. On the downswing, the air produces a whining noise as it rushes through his feathers. The Rufous Hummingbird's wings beat as fast as 200 times per second during these dives.

Physical Description
Average weight: male 3.22 g, female 3.41 g. Females are larger than males.

Plumage
Adult male: Non-iridescent rufous crown, tail, and sides; back may be rufous, green , or some of each; bright orange-red gorget, white breast. Green-backed Rufous cannot be reliably separated from Allen's in the field without extensive experience and a good view of the spread tailfeathers through a scope.
Adult female: Green back and crown, white breast, streaked throat, rufous sides and base of tail feathers, white tips on outer tail feathers. Very similar to female Allen's and Broad-tailed.

Habitat
Mountain meadows, forest edges; on migration and in winter frequents gardens with hummingbird feeding stations.

Distribution
Observed in every state and province except Hawaii, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. There was even one very unusual report from extreme eastern Siberia. The Rufous is the most widely-distributed hummingbird in North America. Winters in Mexico and possibly Panama.

Rufous Hummingbird Range Map