The rufous hummingbird was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[4][5] The type locality given by Gmelin was Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island in western Canada, although breeding was estimated to occur in northwestern North America and wintering in westcentral Mexico.

[8] The adult male has a white breast, rufous face, flanks and tail and an iridescent orange-red throat patch or gorget.

They may stay in one local region for the entire summer, in which case the migrants (like breeding birds) often aggressively take-over and defend feeding locations.

Most individuals winter in wooded areas in the Mexican state of Guerrero, traveling over 3,200 km (2,000 mi) by an overland route from their nearest summer home – a prodigious journey for a bird weighing only 3 to 4 g (3⁄32 to 5⁄32 oz).

This allows males to beat their wings at high frequencies, giving them the ability to chase and attack other birds to defend their territory.

[19] The metabolic cost of short wings is compensated for by the fact that these males do not need to waste energy foraging for food, because their defended territory provides plenty of sustenance.

[19] Therefore, females generally defend larger territories, where flowers are more sparsely populated, forcing them to fly farther between food sources.