Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Female)

Description:

This tiny bird has a long thin bill and an iridescent green back. Both the male and female are white below, but the male has a brilliant iridescent red gorget (throat) that can look black under certain lighting conditions. Juveniles (June-September) look like the adult female, but juvenile males often develop a few red feathers in the gorget by the end of the summer. Length: 3.75" Wingspan: 4.5" Weight: 0.11 oz Voice: The song is a rapid series of high-pitched squeaky notes.

Habitat:

Breeds in mixed woodlands and eastern deciduous forest, gardens, and orchards. Winters in tropical deciduous forest, tropical dry forests, scrubland, citrus groves, and second growth. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only hummingbird breeding in eastern North America and is a familiar summer inhabitant of gardens, parks, and woodlands from mid-April to early October. In the fall it flies nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of nearly 500 miles and taking 18 to 20 hours under favorable conditions, to winter in southern Mexico or northern Central America. To accomplish this tremendous migration, a hummingbird will double its body mass by fattening on nectar and insects in the weeks prior to departure.

Notes:

I have yet to see a male in my yard. But I'm on it!