By the end of this month almost all of our ruby-throated hummingbirds will have departed for Mexico and Central America. To prepare for their 2,000+ mile journey, they double their body weight, adding fat which they will burn on their trip.
They travel about 20 miles a day, except when they fly the 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico nonstop. Some follow an alternate coastal route through Mexico around the Gulf. Observers have reported ruby-throated hummingbirds migrating at treetop height, the better to see potential food sources, and flying just above the waves in the Gulf of Mexico.
These birds migrate alone, even juveniles who are migrating for the first time. If you feed hummingbirds, please keep your feeder out at least two weeks after you see the last hummingbird, for the benefit of stragglers.