Ruby-throated Hummingbird

The ruby-throated hummingbird is a tiny nectar-feeding bird and the only hummingbird species that regularly breeds in eastern North America, named for the iridescent red throat patch, or gorget, of the adult male, which can appear black in poor light. It beats its wings around fifty times a second, allowing it to hover in place and fly backward while feeding on flower nectar through its long, thin bill and tongue, and it also eats small insects and spiders for protein. Each autumn it migrates south to Central America and southern Mexico for the winter, a journey that for many individuals includes a nonstop flight of many hundreds of kilometres across the Gulf of Mexico. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are common visitors to garden feeders stocked with sugar water, and their extremely fast heartbeat and metabolism require them to feed frequently throughout the day.