Ruby Throated Hummingbird

A beautiful Ruby Red Throat humming bird feeding off a beautiful lavender colored flower. Shot with a shallow depth of field which created the... more

by Darren Fisher

Title

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Artist

Darren Fisher

Medium

Photograph - Photography/ Digital Art

Description

A beautiful Ruby Red Throat humming bird feeding off a beautiful lavender colored flower. Shot with a shallow depth of field which created the beautiful background and bokehs. The warm lighting really adds a nice warm mood to the photo.
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird the smallest bird species that breeds in the Eastern United States and Eastern Canada, though is a roughly medium-sized species by hummingbird standards. This hummingbird is from 7 to 9 cm (2.8 to 3.5 in) long and has a 8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in) wingspan. Weight can range from 2 to 6 g (0.071 to 0.21 oz), with males averaging 3.4 g (0.12 oz) against the slightly larger female which averages 3.8 g (0.13 oz). Adults are metallic green above and greyish white below, with near-black wings. Their bill, at up to 2 cm (0.79 in), is long, straight and very slender. As in all hummingbirds, the toes and feet of this species are quite small, with a middle toe of around 0.6 cm (0.24 in) and a tarsus of approximately 0.4 cm (0.16 in). The Ruby-throated Hummingbird can only shuffle if it wants to move along a branch, though it can scratch its head and neck with its feet.[5][6]

The species is sexually dimorphic. The adult male, shown in the photo, has a ruby red throat patch, also known as a gorget which may appear black in some lighting, and a dark forked tail. The female has a dark rounded tail with white tips and generally no throat patch, though she may sometimes have a light or whitish throat patch. The male is smaller than the female, and has a slightly shorter beak. A molt of feathers occurs once a year, and begins during the autumn migration.

Uploaded

June 4th, 2013