Good luck with your report.
About Rubythroats: To attract a female the male will fly in a very dramatic 'U" pattern, rocketing down from a high position and swooping back up again.

Ok im curious.. why arent there Hummingbirds in the UK? Can you tell im a newbie? :) Thanks.

alii--- In hummer migration when they head back south many try to cross the gulf of mexico which is a 600mi flight nonstop and some cant make it, so can you imagine how they might cross the atlantic to get to the UK.

seagull73--- First of all here in eastern half of US we only see the rubythroat and in the spring the males arrive first soon followed by the females. I have seen some dramatic displays of courtship from a small 6-7ft U shaped dance to a U spanning a distance of 30-40 across and high. Ive been told by banders that the more serious courtship dance is when they do a horizontal side to side 1ft or less distance right in front of the female , this usually means they will mate soon after although not neccarily at that point but maybe a short distance away from that spot. I have also seen males actually drive the female to the ground. Personally I think this is the serious one. Hope this helps a little

Hummingbirds are a new world species, ie. they exist in the Americas and not Europe or Africa. Africa (not sure about Europe) does have a similar bird as far as eating nectar called the sunbird. They can't fly like the hummingbirds. One other thing about mating. They are extremely aggressive and territorial birds. It's not just male-male aggression either. I've seen males and females as well as female-female fights. They put on some spectacular dogfights.