Ruby-throated hummingbird

Archilochus colubris · The ruby-throated hummingbird is a tiny bird that breeds across eastern North America and winters in Central America, Mexico, and Florida.

Ruby-throated hummingbird
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Photo: Pslawinski, CC BY-SA 3.0
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Photo: Paul Danese, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderApodiformes
FamilyTrochilidae
GenusArchilochus
SpeciesArchilochus colubris

Where it lives

Breeds in eastern Canada and the eastern US; winters in Mexico and Central America.

Fun facts

  • Its heart can race up to 1260 beats per minute, one of the fastest heart rates in the animal kingdom.
  • During hovering, its wings can beat up to 80 times per second.
  • Some ruby-throated hummingbirds fly nonstop for 900 miles across the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean during migration.
  • The oldest known banded ruby-throated hummingbird lived to be 9 years and 1 month old.

Play it

The Ruby-throated hummingbird was the creature in Birder on October 1, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).