Rate of Decline: 58 percent in 40 years
Global Population: 5.0 million
Continental Population: 5.0 million now, 12 million 40 years ago
Watch List Status: 
Appearance: These are very small birds. The males are almost all cinnamon-colored with a red throat; the females have a mostly green back and mostly white belly, with only a few hints of cinnamon or red.
Vocalization: Frequent
"chip" notes and chattering sounds.
Listen (© Lang Elliot, Nature Sound Studio).
Habitat: This species goes wherever flowers are found, from dense forests to sunny gardens.
Range: Breeds from southern Alaska to northern California, but males start fall migration as early as the 4th of July, so can be seen throughout the West during the summer. Winters primarily in Mexico, except for the steadily increasing population along the United States coast along the Gulf of Mexico.
Feeding: Feeds on floral nectar, small insects in midair, and sap with any insects caught in it. Exhibits very territorial behavior and will aggressively defend flower patches. To prepare for their long migration, they alternate bouts of feeding with a state of torpor (a prolonged period of regulated hypothermia) and almost double their body fat.
Reproduction: Nests are very well hidden in shrubs or drooping limbs and are often constructed very close to one another in colonies of up to 20. Downy plant material is used to line the nest, and lichens, moss, and spider webbing often decorate it. Clutch size is almost always 2 eggs.
Conservation Issues & Efforts:
-
Threats: Both the breeding and wintering ranges are subject to extensive logging. The spring migration route (through the Pacific Coast areas of California, Oregon, and Washington) is subject to extensive human development.
- Outlook: The Rufous Hummingbird can survive in suburban areas and may learn to adapt even better to them, but decline of natural habitats may mean lower population numbers in the future.
What Can You Do:
- Protect the Boreal Forest
Promote conservation of the Canadian boreal forest by supporting the Boreal Songbird Initiative that works to save Canadian boreal habitat for all birds, specifically by fighting inappropriate logging, mining, and drilling and by promoting the designation of protected areas. In the breeding range, plant trees as well as flowers to provide protected nest sites.
- Maintain Ranchlands
Support wildlife-friendly management of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies in the western states, including good regulations for grazing, fire, mining, and energy development. Support research and management actions against non-native, invasive plants; these actions help ranchers
and wildlife.
- Monitor Feeders
If you see dead or diseased birds on or near your feeders, don’t put out food for two weeks to allow birds to disperse, and clean feeders before using them again.
Offer hummingbird flowers and sugar-water feeders (change sugar-water weekly or more often in hot weather).
For more Information:
References:
Healy, S. and W.A. Calder (2006). Rufous Hummingbird (
Selasphorus rufus).
The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Ithaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database:
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/Rufous_Hummingbird/
Kaufman, Kenn.
Guía de campo a las aves de Norteamérica. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
