Archilochus colubris
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-throated Hummingbird sighting in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 61 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 77th most-seen of the 182 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in April–July and September–November, the lowest months. Those are among Ostional Wildlife Refuge's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain a month against 560 mm in October.
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.
12th of 56
Of the 56 parks where we can rate Ruby-throated Hummingbird sightings, Ostional Wildlife Refuge ranks 12th 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%).
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird that you can see in Ostional Wildlife Refuge (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Cinnamon Hummingbird (about 20%), Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (about 20%) and Canivet's Emerald (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Ostional Wildlife Refuge (61 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.
