Are Those Real!!!
Yes, those were the words of some recent Welcome Center visitors from Holland when they saw about fifteen hummingbirds gathered around the patio feeders. They’d never seen hummingbirds in the wild and were astonished to see so many at one time.
Even people who have seen hummingbirds before often stare in amazement. Two types of “hummers” spend their summer at the Welcome Center – black chinned & broad-tailed, with an occasional Rufus. These tiny birds fascinate people for some very good reasons….
• The eggs of a Black-chinned Hummingbird are about the same size as a whole coffee bean.
• Native only to the Americas. They are migratory and spend most of the winter in Mexico.
• Male hummingbirds perform dives of about 66 to 99 ft. in courtship and aggression.
• The Broad-tailed Hummingbird possesses a number of physiological and behavioral adaptations to survive cold nights, including the ability to enter torpor, slowing its heart rate and dropping its body temperature.
• They are known for their ability to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15–80 times per second (depending on the species). Capable of sustained hovering, hummingbirds also have the ability to fly backward, being the only group of birds able to do so. Hummingbirds may also fly vertically and laterally.
• Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy costs of this would be prohibitive. It is widely accepted that at their daytime metabolic rate hummingbirds are just hours away from starvation at all times. In fact, they spend most of their lives sitting, perching and watching the world. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming small invertebrates and up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average 10%-15% of their time feeding and 75%-80% sitting, digesting and watching.
• The Black-chinned Hummingbird's nest can expand as nestlings grow. The spider and insect silk holding it together stretches and allows the nest to grow along with the growing chicks.
Information sources: Cornell Lab of Ornithology Lab; Carmen Smith, Best Friends Wildlife Rehabilitation; Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Story & Photo by Sue Francesconi