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Habitat/Range "Home Sweet Home"
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The Ruby-throated Hummingbird breeds throughout eastern to mid-western North America, from southern Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico (green shading on map). They arrive in their breeding grounds from February to late April. During September through October, they set off on their journey south to southern Mexico, Central America and the West Indies (blue shading on map). The entire migration route totals almost 2000 miles of land and 600 miles of water (Gulf of Mexico). The trek over the Gulf of Mexico is a non-stop flight, lasting a grand total of 18 - 20 hours!
Green : summer breeding zone Blue: winter range
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Throughout the year, Ruby-throats inhabit three main biomes: temperate forest, tropical rainforest, and tropical deciduous forest. Their summer ecological niche consists of woods, orchards and gardens. They are often found near mature trees, for nesting, and abundant supply of flowering plants to feed their young. They share this habitat with an assortment of deciduous trees, flowering plants, and a wide variety of animals, some being the yellow-bellied sapsucker, hawks, blue jays, white-tail deer, praying mantis, monarch butterflies, spiders, small flying insects and humans. Ruby-throats play 3 crucial roles in their niche as a predator, prey and pollinator. To find out more about these relationships, see my Interactions page. In the winter, they mainly inhabit tropical rainforests, which are teeming with an assortment of flowering plants. The dense plant growth also provides maximum protection against predators. |
