Hummingbirds aka Hummers. These little guys are tiny but in their courtship standoffs and sparring over food, they are absolutely rowdy! Hummers are very protective of a food source and you will see two or three of them dive bombing one another to lay claim to the grub. The are, indeed, the tiniest of warriors in the bird world.
The tiniest of warriors are specially designed
Lets look at the design of these little guys for starters. A Hummingbird can out maneuver virtually anything in the sky, except another Hummer! First of all, their wing joint is a ball and socket. What that means is they are able to rotate their wings 180 degrees! But that is only part of their maneuverability prowess. Those tiny wings beat at an astounding 50 beats per SECOND! I believe a Crow or Robin tops out at about 2 1/2 beats per second. Those two factors make for one agile little bird!
Diet of the tiniest warriors
Contrary to what many believe, Hummingbirds feed on insects in addition to flower nectar and sugar water, offered by us humans. With that kind of metabolism, Hummers need to eat frequently – every 10 – 15 minutes – just to survive. They will consume roughly half their body weight every day. Think about that. Eating every fifteen minutes just to survive. I wouldn’t make a very good Hummingbird. I struggle to get one good meal in per day! Of course, if I had to flap my arms at the same rate as a Hummer’s wings, well, that could work up an appetite.
How fast can a Hummer hum along?
How fast can these little guys fly? Anna’s Hummingbird is believed to be the fastest bird in the world – for it’s size. I’ve seen numbers ranging from 50 to 60 miles per hour! Can you imagine? One needs good vision to be able to navigate at such speed and the Hummingbird has it. Their eyes weigh more than their brain – very large eyes for their size. They have more rods and cones in their eyes than a human enabling them to have vision in the ultraviolet spectrum of light. The positioning of their eyes is such that they have both binocular and monocular vision.
Migration
It is reported a hummingbird will travel, on average, 25 miles per day. Again, this doesn’t make sense in my head if, for example, the Anna’s Hummingbird can blast off at up to 60 miles per hour! Apparently that is a burst of energy and not sustained. But what an amazing bird.
How about that pumping heart? During migration a hummingbird’s heart will beat up to 1,260 times per minute. To my Nurse friends, how would you like to do a manual read of that pulse?
Closing
I hope you found this little recap of the Hummingbird interesting. I have a few photos of Hummingbirds at the RedBarnProject.com. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding any of the prints I am offering for sale at my site. Peace.
