Ruby-throated Hummingbird (immature male) – 8/15/26

Observer: Paul Lauenstein

Observation Date: 8/15/26

Observation Time: 3:00 p.m.

Observation Location: Gavins Pond Rd (butterfly bush in our back yard)

Common Name: Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Archilochus colubris

Comments: The few red scales visible on this bird’s neck indicate that it is an immature male hatched earlier this summer. When mature, its entire throat will be bright red. Female ruby-throated hummingbirds have white throats.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are the only species of hummingbird commonly seen in New England. They overwinter in Costa Rica. When they migrate north in spring, they fly several hundred miles across the Gulf of Mexico. They arrive in Massachusetts in late April. That’s a good time to put out a hummingbird feeder. If you’re lucky, and you change the sugar water in the feeder regularly, they’ll nest nearby and visit your feeder all summer.

Hummingbirds make their nests out of lichens and spider webs. They weigh about as much as a nickel.

More Information: All About Birds