The Attack of the Killer Ruby Throat!

It was the morning after the night before – when the winds had come blowing fiercely and continued to do so for hours. Jim had cleaned up the debris on the deck but there was more to do in the yard. Before then, however, there was breakfast. Jim and Glynda filled their plates, poured their coffee and sat down to eat and watch the tiny Ruby Throated hummingbirds that visited their feeders, as they did every morning.

It soon became obvious that the birds they were watching were not the same playful birds they had watched the morning before. Perhaps it was the storm or perhaps it was because of the migration season but, for whatever reason, those birds were gone and this smaller, but fiercer group, had taken their place.

There are usually several males in a flock but this flock had only one. The marking of the male is what gives the Ruby Throat their name. The male has red feathers on the front of his neck that appear a neon orange-red when seen from the front. From other angles the red cannot be seen and the throat looks black. This male had an obvious red throat and neck and was red from whatever angle you saw it. This male did not approach the feeder but sat quietly watching the others. Something red dripped from his tiny needle pointed beak.

The rest of the birds continually attacked one another, driving them from the feeder, fighting in the air. One of them landed on the back of another and drove her beak into the back of her neck. As the others darted back and forth you could here the "smack!" of their wings as they ran into each other, sometimes falling back towards the ground, sometimes driving towards each other and upwards until they disappeared into the leaves of the trees. It was at this point that Jim made a casual decision that proved fatal. “I’ll have one more cup of coffee,” he said.

As Jim and Glynda sat and watched, the birds would swoosh across the deck above the table before them coming within inches of their face before turning away. The male did this too. There’s nothing quite as frightening as an incoming male Ruby Throat! One second he’s safely away in a tree, and the next he’s coming towards you at an astonishing rate of speed. Just when you know there’s no way he won’t hit you, he stops in midair and hovers there in front of your face! This male was coming straight for Jim in just that way! He knew that, logically, this bird was not going to run into him. But there was a fierceness in the way this bird looked! He was coming very fast! His beak was pointed straight ahead! For just an instant, Jim realized that, no, he was not going to stop! Then the razor sharp beak plunged deep into his neck.

Jim lay unconscious on the deck. A vast amount of blood poured through the tiny hole in his neck, pooling below him and dripping slowly onto the ground below. Glynda tried to stop it. She put a tourniquet around his neck but it was no use. Life was ebbing from his body. She looked up. The Ruby Throat was perched quietly on the corner of the gazebo, blood on his beak. Ruby Throats make a tiny quiet chirping sound but this one seemed to be chirping words. It was hard to understand, but it was words! To Glynda it sounded like “Which way to Austin?”