Male Rufous Hummingbird	Female Rufous Hummingbird

Class: Aves

        Order: Apodiformes

                Family: Trochilidae

                        Subfamily: Trochilinae

                                Genus: Selaphorus

                                        Species: rufus

The following can be used to distinguish Rufous hummingbirds from other hummingbirds, as taken from (6)

Adult male:
        - non-iridescent rufous back, crown, tail, and sides
        - bright orange-red gorget
        - white breast
        - are smaller than females

Adult female:
        - green back and crown
        - white breast
        - streaked throat
        - rufous sides and base of tail feathers
        - white tips on outer tail feathers
        - are larger than males
 

• They are the most widely distributed hummingbird in North America (True, 1993)
• The average weight for males is 3.22g, and for females it is 3.41 g (5)
• They are the only species to go into torpor routinely at night (5)
• Rufous hummingbirds are widespread in high mountains, stream banks, forests and forest edges, meadows, woodlands, and chaparral (Tyrrell, 1985)
• Rufous hummingbird is the only hummingbird that regularly occurs in Alaska (Stokes, 1989)
• Rufous hummingbirds migrate northward in February to May and then southward in late June to October (Stokes, 1989)
• They have the longest migration route of all US hummingbirds (5)
• They are abundant in migration throughout the west; shows up in the southeast during the winter months, like November and December because they are migrants that have drifted eastward during their southern migration (Stokes, 1989)
• They spend the winter months in Mexico and possibly Panama (5)
• The longevity record for a Rufous hummingbird is a 6 year old female (True, 1993)

 

*Location
 

Selaphorus rufus
AREA	STATUS	REFERENCES
North America:  Continental United States; Canada	Yes	True, 1993
Eastern North America:  United States east of Mississippi;  Ontario and eastern Canada	Yes	True, 1993
Southeastern United States:  AL AR DE DC FL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV	Yes	True, 1993
Southern Appalachian States:  AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV	Yes	True, 1993
Coastal Plain	Yes	True, 1993
Piedmont	Yes	True, 1993
Blue Ridge Mountains	Yes	True, 1993
Great Smoky Mountains National Park	Yes	True, 1993
Ridge and Valley	?	-
Cumberland Plateau	?	-
Central Arch	?	-
Georgia	Yes	True, 1993
Clarke County, Georgia	Yes	Joy Bickley. Pers. Obs.
Sams Farm	?	-
Old Field	?	-
Wetland	?	-
Woods	?	-
1-Hectare Plot	?	-