These facts will help get you familiar with the world’s smallest bird species, from unique physiological characteristics to fascinating migration patterns.
Explore some of these amazing Facts About Hummingbirds mentioned below. Know about their diet, species, and migration all in one place!
Facts About Hummingbirds
- The vivid color of a hummingbird’s throat is not due to pigmentation in the feathers but by the radiance that occurs in the arrangement of feathers. The level of light, the humidity, angle of view and wear and tear, and other elements all impact the brightness and color the throat can appear.
- Hummingbirds cannot move or hop around, although their feet can scoot around while they’re perched. They have developed smaller feet to make them lighter and more efficient flight. They utilize their feet to scratch and preen but not for preening.
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- Hummingbirds can have anywhere from 1,000 to 1500 feathers, which is the lowest number of feathers in birds worldwide. They don’t require as many feathers. As a result, their small size. However, having fewer feathers makes them lighter for a more comfortable flight.
- Around 25-30 percent of the weight of a hummingbird is contained in its pectoral muscles. They are the chest muscles that are the primary ones responsible for flying.
- The average heart rate of a hummingbird exceeds 1,000 beats per hour. A human’s average heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute when at rest.
- Hummingbirds do not have a smell, but they have extremely sharp eyesight.
- Hummingbirds lay the tiniest eggs among all bird species. The eggs are less than 1 inch. However, they can be as large as 10% in the mom’s body weight time that eggs hatch. A hummingbird egg is less than jelly beans!
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Diet Of Hummingbird
- Hummingbirds consume about half its weight of sugar every day, and the average bird consumes food between five and eight times an hour. Along with nectar, the birds consume a variety of small spiders and insects. They can also drink tree sap or juices from broken fruit.
- Hummingbirds don’t take nectar through their long bill, but instead, they lick it using fringed tongues with forked edges. The capillary action on the edge of their tongues help to draw the nectar into their throats, so they can swallow.
- A hummingbird can lick its mouth up to 15 times in a second during eating.
- The Hummingbirds eat natural sucrose — the sugar in floral nectar–in 20 minutes and have an efficiency of 97 percent for converting sucrose into energy. 1
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Species
- There are over 325 species of hummingbirds that are unique to the world. Only eight species regularly breed within the United States, though up to two dozen species can visit the country or be referred to as regular vagrants. The remaining hummingbirds are predominantly tropical species and don’t frequently move. They can be found throughout Central as well as South America as well as across the Caribbean.
- There are many species of hummingbirds, including Allen’s, Black-chinned, Anna’s and Costa’s, and calliope, rufous and broad-tailed, hummingbirds, mix to form hybrid species. This is one of the factors that makes the identification of the hummingbird species extremely difficult.
- The calliope hummingbird is among the small bird species that inhabit North America and is just 3 inches long. The bee hummingbird is among the largest hummingbird species of the world and is 2.25 inches in length.
- The typical ruby-throated Hummingbird weighs less than 3 grams. A nickel, by comparison, weighs 4.5 grams. It would require more than 150 hummingbirds with ruby-throats to weigh one pound.
- The rufous bird has the longest flight of any species of Hummingbird. They travel over 3,300 miles away from their breeding grounds within Alaska in Alaska and Canada to their winter home in Mexico.
- Its bill, which is appropriately called sword-billed Hummingbird, located within the Andes Mountains, can reach as high as 4 inches and could be so large that birds can perch on the bills up straight. They have the record for the longest bill about their general body size.
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Migration
- The maximum forward speed can be 30 miles per hour. They can travel as high as sixty miles an hour during an air dive. Hummingbirds have a wide range of adaptations to their distinctive flight.
- Hummingbirds’ wings oscillate between 50 and 200 flaps every second, depending on their direction of flight and the reason for their flight, and the ambient air conditions.
- The ruby-throated Hummingbird flies 500 miles continuously through the Gulf of Mexico during both its fall and spring migrations. It is possible that you have heard the tiny birds “ride” in the backs of other birds in the migration. It’s a myth. They travel this distance by themselves.
- The best time to migrate in the fall for hummingbirds begins mid-July until August or September, based on the exact route taken and the species. The species that are nesting further north start migration earlier.
Miscellaneous Facts About Hummingbirds
- A hummingbird consumes approximately 250 breaths every minute for the rest of its life. The rate of their breathing will increase when they fly.
- Based on the habitat, species, predators, and other dangers to the Hummingbird, the average life span for a wild Hummingbird ranges between three and 12 years.
- Despite their small size, they are among the most fierce birds. They regularly fight jays, crows, and Hawks that invade their territories. Backyard birders typically find they have one Hummingbird guarding all the feeders, keeping the intruders away.
