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Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

When the sun hits it just right, the Rufous Hummingbird’s gorget, or throat, will blaze and glow likes it afire…a red hot, glistening, flash of color… Plus, once a Rufous had located your hummingbird feeder, he, or she, will generally claim it as their own, aggressively running off any intruder that dares to even think of taking a sip of “their nectar”. The only time that I’ve seen one of these pint sized territorialists be deterred was one summer in Colorado, when a transient male Magnificent Hummingbird took a liking to our hummingbird feeder, one that had already been claimed by a male Rufous….The Magnificent, being several times the size of his pugnacious counterpart was never deterred by of all of the little guy’s, swooping and fly-by antics, only leaving when he had taken his full…. Frustrated for certain, it still didn’t stop the Rufous from continuing to attempt to run everyone else off, including myself when would attempt to grill anything on the deck to close to “his feeder”. The Rufous has the longest migration route of all North American hummingbirds. It breeds from southeastern Alaska, British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, and western Montana south to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and northern California. It winters mainly in Mexico. Also this bird has an excellent memory for location. They have been observed investigating where an absent feeder was located the previous year. Interestingly enough, a group of hummingbirds has many collective nouns, including a “bouquet”, “glittering”, “hover”, “shimmer”, and “tune” of hummingbirds.