The ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is a tiny, dazzling bird and the only hummingbird species that regularly breeds in eastern North America. Measuring just 3 to 3.75 inches long and weighing barely more than a penny, it has a slender, needle-like bill perfectly adapted for probing tubular flowers. The male is instantly recognizable by his iridescent emerald-green back and crown, brilliant white underparts, and the striking ruby-red gorget — a patch of feathers at his throat that can flash from fiery crimson to near-black depending on the angle of light. The female is similarly green above but lacks the red throat, displaying instead a white or buff-washed chest with faint streaking. Despite their delicate size, these birds are remarkably fierce and acrobatic, capable of beating their wings up to 53 times per second, hovering in place with pinpoint precision, and even flying briefly backwards — feats that produce the characteristic soft humming sound that gives the species its name. They are also extraordinary migrants, making a nonstop transoceanic journey of roughly 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico each spring and fall between their wintering grounds in Central America and their North American breeding territories.
