I posted a photograph of a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird last week. This photograph is of her male counterpart. As you can see, the male has the ruby coloring around his throat. I learned that their ruby coloring does not show up well in the shadows. It’s quite visible in direct sunlight.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds prefer to feed on red or orange flowers (though it’s not necessary to color the sugar-water you put in a hummingbird feeder). Like many birds, hummingbirds have good color vision and can see into the ultraviolet spectrum, which humans can’t see. Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds don’t stick around long. Pairs are together long enough for courtship and mating – just a matter of days to weeks. Then he’s off on his own, and may begin migration by early August.
![Ruby-throated Hummingbird](https://tkahler.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160402-Pedernales-Falls-Birding-035-Edit.jpg)
This image was taken with my Canon EOS 7D Mark II using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II Lens set on 400 mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/7.1, shutter speed at 1/320th of a second and the ISO set at 1600. This is a single image processed in Lightroom.
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