On today’s edition of #RBWinterWildlifeWednesday, we take a look at one of the smallest migratory birds that visit R. B. Winter State Park – the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird!
Weighing in at only 2 to 6 grams and reaching 3 to 3.5 inches in length as fully grown adults, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are one of the smallest of the more than 150 bird species documented at the park. These tiny birds are easily recognized by their distinctive plumage: iridescent green on their back and the top of their head, and white on their undersides. Males have a brilliant iridescent red coloring on their throats, which gives the species its name.
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are a migratory species that arrive in Central Pennsylvania around the beginning of May. They can be found in open woodlands, gardens, orchards, and other areas with abundant flowering plants. At R. B. Winter State Park, they can be found throughout the forest, but the best place to look for them is at the Park Office. It is not unusual to see a dozen or more hummingbirds using their long, slender bills to sip nectar from the bee balm planted there or from the feeders that the park staff put out for them.
They stay around the area of the park through the summer until August, when they begin their journey south to Central America to spend the winter months. Many birds will fly through the southern states to Texas and then on into Mexico, while others reach Louisiana before launching themselves out over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Flying continuously for up to 500 miles, they can reach the Yucatan Peninsula in 18 to 24 hours. Towards the end of the following winter, they begin building their energy reserves before once again returning north. A hummingbird that winters in the jungles near Merida, Mexico and returns to R. B. Winter State Park would need to fly over 1,500 miles—a journey it undertakes twice a year, every year of its life!
The next time you visit the park, be sure to stop at the office where you can sit and watch the amazing aerial acrobatics of these incredible birds.
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