Hear a story about a hummingbird.
Hear a hummingbird.
from The Birds of Texas
by John L. Tveten
© Photo by Luke Wade
Male black-chinned hummingbird.
The smallest of all birds ranks among the most popular with birders and nonbirders alike, yet they are often poorly understood. Hummingbirds range throughout the Americas, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and across the Caribbean, but they do not occur in the Old World. Thus they were looked on with amazement by early explorers and settlers to this land.
Their small size does not necessarily mean that hummingbirds are delicate. Some are capable of long migration flights, and others live at elevations of up to 15,000 feet in the South American Andes. The hummingbird's heart is the largest in the world in proportion to body size, and it beats about 500 times a minute while resting and up to 1,200 times a minute (20 beats a second) in full flight.
With wings beating nearly 80 times a second, these mites of the bird world are masters of controlled flight. They can hover in one place, fly backward, and even fly upside-down. They react quickly, but their apparent speed is something of an optical illusion. Hummingbirds probably average no more than 20 to 30 miles per hour in level flight.
Hummingbirds live on the edge, constantly searching for food to fuel that incredible metabolism. They perch to rest and preen but soon zoom off again, visiting flower after flower to sip at nectar reservoirs. In return, they carry pollen from one flower to another. Flower nectar consists primarily of a solution of sugar in water, with a few trace minerals and amino acids as well. Most of the bird's energy comes from this nectar, while small insects and spiders supply necessary protein. It's been estimated that a hummingbird requires nectar from about 2,000 to 5,000 flowers a day to balance its energy budget.
Left: © TPW, Photo by Earl Nottingham.
A female ruby-throated or black-chinned hummingbird.
More than 320 species of these feathered gems inhabit the New World, where they have long been favorites of Native Americans. Hummingbird feathers adorned the regal robes of Montezuma, and several tribes honored deities in hummingbird form. Their names mirror the gemlike splendor of their glistening plumage: emerald, sapphire, ruby, amethyst, topaz. The glittering, iridescent colors, however, are structural in nature. Unlike the pigmented red color of a cardinal, they are produced by the reflection of light from tiny platelets in the feathers. The thickness of the platelets, the amount of air contained in tiny bubbles within them, and the angle of the light determine the colors seen. It is much the same as the iridescent rainbow produced by a drop of oil in water.
Specialized feathers on the crown and on the throat (the gorget) of hummingbirds are frequently the most colorful, but they are also very flat and have the most critical angle of iridescence. With the sun behind the viewer, the gorget sparkles at its best; but in oblique or dim light, it may appear entirely black.
Hummingbird nests are generally tiny cups of soft plant fibers and spider webs lined with cottony down. Lichens may ornament the exterior, creating additional camouflage to make them appear nothing more than small knots on tree limbs. Two white eggs make up the typical clutch. Females take complete responsibility for the young after mating. She selects the site, builds the nest, incubates the eggs and feeds the young until they leave the nest.
Eighteen species of hummingbirds have been documented in Texas, although eight of these are extremely rare. The ten most common hummingbird species are the buff-bellied, blue-throated, magnificent, Lucifer, ruby-throated, black-chinned, rufous, Anna's, calliope and broad-tailed. Of these, the ruby-throated hummingbird and the black-chinned hummingbird are the most common.
Excerpts from The Birds of Texas by John L. Tveten with permission from Shearer Publishing, Inc.
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More Bird Facts
Male hummingbirds have distinct colored throat patches.
Female hummingbirds are generally green above and white below.
Hummingbirds range in size from 2 1/2 inches to 8 1/2 inches.
Most hummingbirds in Texas are 3 to 5 inches in length.
A hummer's normal body temperature is about 104 degrees F.
Hummingbirds' wings beat in a figure 8 pattern, enabling them to hover.
Hummingbirds are primarily attracted to red and orange tubular flowers.
They will feed on any color flower that provides a nectar source.
Leaving your feeder up will not keep hummingbirds from migrating.
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