Hummingbirds are tiny, vibrant marvels of nature, and, for many of us humans, catching glimpses of them is a highlight of spring and summer! Yet, despite our admiration, we often don’t know many of the characteristics that make them truly astonishing – and we should!
Here’s what we think everyone should know about hummingbirds:
- They are named for “the humming sound their wings make as they fly”!
- They are found only in the Americas, though fossils show that they existed in Europe 30 million years ago, and the reason for their disappearance there remains unknown! (The vast majority – about 95% – of hummingbird species live primarily south of the United States, and only about 5% of species live primarily north of Mexico.)
- Only about 15 of the more than 360 known species of hummingbirds are found in the U.S.!
- Hummingbird species are “so varied that adjectives from the expanse of the dictionary are insufficient to describe” them . . . but, on average, they:
- are the lightest birds in North America, “weigh[ing] less than a nickel” or less than “two pennies”!
- beat their wings 60-80 times per second and fly at 20-30mph (though they can reach up to “60mph in courtship dives”)!
- take about “150 breaths per minute” while at rest!
- have “only” about 940 feathers, “the least of any bird”!
- have “pectoral” or “flight muscle[s]” that make up 25-30% of their bodyweights! (Other birds’ flight muscles typically make up only about 15% of their body weights!)
- can shake their heads “132 times per second . . . all while flying and maintaining direction”!
- are believed to live about 7-8 years in the wild!
- They are described as “tough little creatures”, “tough survivalists”, and “a study in extremes”!
- They have “the most diverse range of colors of any family of birds”, with females being “more subtly colored” than males.
- They “meticulously preen their feathers” and “love to take a shower–or even a bath–using water to help clean their plumage.”
- They are “regular singers”, who communicate with each other through a “variety of calls, chips, chatters and squeals”! (Each species has its own “‘language’”!)
- They have hearts that are “relatively the largest of all animals at 2.5% of [their] body weight.”
- They feed primarily on flowers, have “big appetites, and consume twice their weight in food daily”! (“To put that in perspective, that’s the same as a 150-pound person eating 1,200 ¼ pound hamburger patties every day.”)
- They lap up nectar – about 15-20 times per second – with their flat and forked tongues! (Grooves in their tongues “act like tiny pumps” when their tongue muscles contract.)
- They have “outstanding spatial memory and can remember locations years later”, “keep[ing] track of bloom peaks and remember[ing] which flowers they’ve visited” and when.
- They are the “most agile birds on the planet”!
- They are the only birds who can “hover, and fly backwards, or even upside down”! (They can do this because their “flexible shoulder joints allow their wings to rotate 180 degrees” – whereas other birds flap their wings up and down, hummingbirds “move [their wings] in a figure-eight pattern….”)
- They have no sense of smell, but they have “superb visual acuity” and can see colors on the ultraviolet spectrum!
- They can “perch” and “scoot sideways” but can’t walk or hop because of their “tiny feet”! (They actually belong to the “bird order Apodiformes”, which means “‘footless’”.)
- At night, they often rest on twigs that are “sheltered from the wind”.
- They enter “a deep, sleep-like state known as torpor – in which all body functions (e.g., metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature) slow dramatically – to “conserve energy and survive cold temperatures”!
- They can be “very territorial”, “chasing other birds away” from and “actively defend[ing] their food sources”!
- They typically separate after mating (though some species have been observed to form pair bonds and share parental duties).
- Female hummingbirds use “lichen, moss, and spiderwebs” to build nests, which average “a half-dollar coin” or “a thimble” in size and “expand[] to accommodate the babies as they grow”.
- Female hummingbirds most often lay two, jelly-bean or Tic-Tac-sized eggs at a time! (Hummingbird eggs are the “smallest . . . of all birds” but can “be as much as 10% of the mother’s weight”.)
- They are important pollinators, who “pollinate thousands of different plants, including wildflowers”, and “can stabilize fragile soils after fires and landslides.”
- They are threatened with habitat loss – at least 10 species are Critically Endangered, and “[n]early 15% of hummingbird species are vulnerable to extinction”.