Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird Nest

Female ruby throated hummingbird taking various defensive and evasive actions around a man made feeder.

Female ruby throated hummingbird nest.

It is typically placed in a protected location in a shrub bush or tree. Once the shape of the nest is set the female camouflages it with lichen and other plant items. The ruby throated hummingbird nest is typically constructed of spider silk and plant materials. These brilliant tiny precision flying creatures glitter like jewels in the full sun then vanish with a zip toward the next nectar source.

Approximately two weeks later the females will arrive. Ty ivey gnpa the ruby throats we will see in our backyards this summer are a combination males and females that bred locally and their offspring as well as migrants en route to points south. Female ruby throated hummingbird feeding young in nest. Hundreds of kinds of hummingbirds nest in the american tropics and more than a dozen in the western u s but east of the great plains there is only the ruby throat.

For hummingbirds like the ruby throated hummingbird the males will return from their winter migration lands in mexico and central america in mid march. Feeders and flower gardens are great ways to attract these birds and some people turn their yards into buzzing clouds of hummingbirds each summer. There it is fairly common in summer in open woods and gardens. As soon as mating is over the female ruby throated hummingbird has little to do with the male or vice versa she selects a suitable place for her nest often atop a small downward slanting branch overhanging an open area or stream but sometimes on a large horizontal limb and then spends many hours collecting spider webs and plant parts that she weaves into a small.

Like the male ruby throated hummingbird a white spot is easily visible behind the female s dark eye. A flash of green and red the ruby throated hummingbird is eastern north america s sole breeding hummingbird. The nest is generally constructed on a small downward sloping tree limb 10 60 feet 3 18 m above the ground with an average of about 15 feet 4 5 m. Female ruby throated hummingbird may reuse old nests for several seasons and repair them annually.

Impressive migrants despite their small size some ruby throats may. Hovering in front of a flower to sip nectar it beats its wings more than 50 times per second. Like the male the upperparts of the female ruby throated hummingbird are a shimmery. Almost all hummingbirds of 7 years or more in age are females with males rarely surviving past 5 years of age.

The silk is especially important since it allows the nest to expand as soon to be hatched chicks grow.