Rufous Hummingbird

A fairly small hummingbird with a slender, nearly straight bill, a tail that tapers to a point when folded, and fairly short wings. In good light, males glow like coals: bright orange on the back and belly, with a vivid iridescent-red throat. Females are green above with rufous-washed flanks, rufous patches in the green tail, and often a spot of orange on the throat.

References cited in Species Profile

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Rufous Hummingbird. All About Birds. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rufous_Hummingbird/id
• Great Basin Bird Observatory. 2015. Rufous Hummingbird. http://www.gbbo.org/pdf/bcp/53_Rufous%20Hummingbird.pdf
• Healy, Susan and William A. Calder. 2006. Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/053
• Partners in Flight. 2012. Species assessment database. http://rmbo.org/pifassessment/Database.aspx
• USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. 2012. North American Breeding Bird Survey 1966 - 2010 analysis. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/specl10.html