Welcome to my Enjoyable Ruby-throated Hummingbird website featuring animated photos / hummingbird gifs. PAGE EIGHT
The closest view I could record of a hummingbird eating sugar water
Bathing - they seem to enjoy water
More red throat viewing
Firecracker Plant
Another Firecracker Plant gif
Hummingbird preening - note the missing tail feathers with short replacement feathers growing
These hummingbird fights happen fast and are very hard to photograph
Hand feeding a male ruby-throat and a female ruby-throat with part of a feeder
Another guick fight for feeder rights
Juvenile male ruby-throated's tail feathers - note the white tips which will become dark when the juvenile becomes an adult.
Female juvenile hummingbirds have the same white tips and will keep them as adults - a good way to distinguish adult males from females
See the next gif to compare
Repeat of earlier gif for comparison of an adult male and a juvenile male in above gif
Of course the easiest way to distinguish an adult Ruby-throated male from a female is the male's red throat - all ruby-throated females will have white throats
In some hummingbird species the male will have a dark colored throat and the female will have a partially colored throat - examples - Anna's Hummingbirds, Rufous Hummingbirds & Allen's Hummingbirds
The female's white throat and white tips on the tail feathers can be seen in this repeated gif
Another way to distinguish between males and females is the size. Females are slightly larger than males.
As you can see in these next two photos, the females are larger but it is not easy to see when observing live hummingbirds zipping around you.
These are not exact comparisons but are close enough to see the difference in size
