The Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) is a small hummingbird about 3 inches in length with a long, straight and very slender bill. Like all hummingbirds, the female is slightly larger than the male. They feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendible tongue or catch insects on the wing. These birds require frequent feeding while active during the day and become torpid at night to conserve energy. Their breeding habitat includes open areas and forest edges in western Northern America from as far north as Denali NP and Fairbanks in central Alaska to northern California. This bird nests further north than any other hummingbird. The female builds a nest in a protected location in a shrub or conifer. Both males and females aggressively defend feeding locations within their territory. The same male may mate with several females. They are migratory, with many of them migrating through the Rocky Mountains and nearby lowlands in July and August to take advantage of the wildflower season there. They may stay in one spot for considerable time, in which case the migrants, like breeding birds, often aggressively take over and defend feeding locations. Most winter in wooded areas in the Mexican state of Guerrero, traveling over 2,000 miles by an overland route from its nearest summer home...a prodigious journey for a bird weighing only three or four grams. This is the western hummingbird most likely to stray into eastern North America. The core wintering area for this new eastern-wintering population extends from the Florida panhandle and adjacent areas of Georgia west to Louisiana and east Texas. Climate change and habitat change play a role permitting many of them to overwinter without using feeders. Weve had several in October through December in Pennsylvania that eschewed feeders for natural food supplies. These beautiful hummers are surprisingly hardy. Rufous Hummingbirds are able to tolerate temperatures down to at least -4°F. (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds; Scott Weidensaul)
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 03:16:05 +0000
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