Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

With their tiny size, fearless personalities, and amazing agility, Hummingbirds capture our imaginations in a way few other birds can. PEI has only one species – the Ruby-throated Hummingbird – and their time with us is as short as an Island summer: from roughly Mother’s Day to Labour Day.

Hummingbirds are creatures of extremes. They’re our smallest birds by far, weighing just a few grams (or about as much as a Canadian nickel); it would take more than 1,000 Ruby-throats to balance the scales against one Bald Eagle. I’ve had Hummingbirds perch on my finger, and the breeze from their wings is far more noticeable than their weight once they land.

Hummingbirds’ small size coupled with unparalleled agility – they can fly backwards, sideways, and even upside down! – means most predators don’t bother with them. The only things I’ve seen Hummers avoid are wasps and hornets, with good reason: a single sting could be fatal.

Hummingbirds also have the fastest metabolisms of any animal, along with wingbeats of up to 80 times per second, and a heart rate of more than 1,200 beats per minute when most active. To meet their enormous energy requirements, Hummingbirds must feed nearly constantly during the day, and their diet includes insects, nectar, tree sap, and sugar-water from our feeders.

At night, Hummingbirds enter a state called ‘torpor’, which is a bit like hibernation. The birds’ temperature, heart rate, and metabolic demands drop so they can survive overnight; without this adaptation, Hummingbirds would starve to death before morning.

While feeding birds in summer is generally not recommended (encouraging birds to congregate in warm weather can spread disease) Hummingbirds are an exception. As long as you keep your feeders clean and use the proper ratio of one cup of white sugar to four cups of water, feeding Hummingbirds is fine.

White sugar is the best match for flower nectar – don’t use any other sweetener – and remember that the mix can become mouldy very quickly in warm weather, so keep a close eye on it. And if you notice your Hummingbirds disappear mid-summer, don’t panic! Their diet switches to more high-protein insects and less nectar once they start feeding their young.

In late-summer, our Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feed as much as they can to build energy reserves for their amazing migration of as much as 4,000 kilometres to the southern US, Mexico and Central America. Depending on their destination, this can include a non-stop flight of some 800 kilometres over the Gulf of Mexico. Only about half of the Hummingbirds hatched will survive to adulthood, and the fall migration – during hurricane season – is certainly a factor. 

Hummingbirds are truly amazing parts of PEI Untamed!