Ruby Throated Humming Birds Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, archilochus colubris , migrate through Texas in the fall months heading for balmy Mexico. This migration extends from the eastern two-thirds of Texas from September to December and March to May as far west as the Pecos River and the Panhandle of Texas. They breed in summer east of the Edwards Plateau from the Red River to the Central Coast. Male Ruby Throated hummingbirds migrate before the females back to Mexico. During the fall migration, the birds fly across Texas moving between 25 to 30 miles per hour.
Some migrants fly non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico while some move inland down the Texas coast.
According to the Texas Ornithological Society, of the 320 species of hummingbirds in the New World, eighteen hummingbird species live at some time in Texas. Hummingbirds have evolved a delicate relationship with flowering plants. It has been estimated that one hummingbird requires 5,000 flowers a day to supply its daily energy requirements. Plants benefit from the relationship by receiving pollinating services from the feeding hummers. Some hummers also hunt and eat insects.