Archilochus colubris
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is a species of hummingbird that generally spends the winter in Central America, Mexico, and Florida, and migrates to Canada and other parts of Eastern North America for the summer to breed. It is the most common hummingbird in eastern North America, having population estimates of about 35 million in 2021.
The ruby-throated hummingbird was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Trochilus colubris. Linnaeus based his description on the earlier account by Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands that had been published in 1729 and that by George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds that had been published in 1743. The type locality is South Carolina. The specific epithet colubris is from the Spanish colibrí meaning "hummingbird". The ruby-throated hummingbird is now placed in the genus Archilochus that was introduced in 1854 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
This hummingbird is from 7... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
No species of the same family or order lives in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-throated Hummingbird sighting in Cape Breton Highlands National Park on a given day, based on 59 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 85th most-seen of the 145 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and July–August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in Cape Breton Highlands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June and September–April, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ruby-throated Hummingbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
22nd of 56
Of the 56 parks where we can rate Ruby-throated Hummingbird sightings, Cape Breton Highlands National Park ranks 22nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 30%), Cañón del Sumidero National Park (Mexico, about 20%) and Shenandoah National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Breton Highlands National Park (59 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
