Hummingbirds, with their iridescent plumage and remarkable aerial agility, often spark curiosity about their mating habits. They generally do not form lasting pair bonds or mate for life. Instead, their reproductive strategies involve transient interactions, with the female taking on sole responsibility for raising offspring.
Hummingbird Mating Behavior
Male hummingbirds engage in elaborate displays to attract females. These displays often include spectacular aerial dives, where a male might ascend 100 to 130 feet into the air before plummeting towards a perched female at speeds up to 50 miles per hour, pulling up sharply at the last moment. During these dramatic maneuvers, some species produce loud sounds with their tail feathers, which serve to impress females and deter rivals.
Vocalizations, such as chittering, also accompany these courtship flights. Males fiercely defend territories rich in nectar, as nectar is appealing to females seeking sustenance. A female selects a mate based on the quality of his display and the resources within his territory. Once a female chooses a mate, copulation is remarkably brief, lasting only a few seconds. Following this swift interaction, the male and female typically part ways, with the male often seeking to mate with additional females.
The Reproductive Process
After mating, the female hummingbird undertakes all aspects of reproduction independently. She constructs a tiny, cup-shaped nest over five to seven days, using materials such as plant down, moss, and lichen, skillfully bound together with stretchy spider silk. These well-camouflaged nests are usually located on slender branches in trees or shrubs, often between 10 and 90 feet above the ground. The female generally lays two small, white, jellybean-sized eggs, usually one to two days apart.
Incubation is performed solely by the female, lasting typically 14 to 18 days. During this period, she leaves the nest only for short intervals to feed herself. Upon hatching, the chicks are blind and featherless, relying entirely on their mother for warmth and nourishment. The female feeds her young a protein-rich diet of regurgitated insects and nectar, providing sustenance as frequently as every 15 to 20 minutes. Chicks typically fledge, or take their first flight, around 21 days after hatching, but the mother continues to feed them for one to two weeks post-fledging.
Why Monogamy Isn’t Their Way
The hummingbird’s high-energy lifestyle and feeding habits contribute significantly to their non-monogamous strategy. Their rapid metabolism necessitates almost continuous foraging for nectar and small insects. This intense need for food means that both parents providing care would offer little additional benefit to the offspring, as the female is capable of gathering sufficient resources on her own.
Males maximize their reproductive success by defending resource-rich territories and attempting to mate with as many females as possible. The male’s brightly colored plumage, while attractive for courtship, could inadvertently draw predators to the nest, making his presence a potential liability during the vulnerable nesting period. The female’s ability to provision and protect her young independently removes the biological pressure for pair bonding, allowing both sexes to pursue strategies that optimize their individual reproductive output.