Hummingbirds
FACTS:
· There are roughly 10,000 species of birds on earth, more than half of these 10,000 birds live in the Amazon Rainforest.
· More than 300 species of hummingbirds can be found in rainforests.
· Its name originates from a humming sound its wings make as they flap 60 to 90 times per second; depending upon what species and size that hummingbird is, as it hovers in mid-air. Hummingbirds are also able to flap their wings 200 times per second during a high speed dive. This is why hummingbirds require tonnes of energy.
· A hummingbird’s heart beats up to 1,260 beats per minute.
· During migration, some hummingbirds make a non-stop 500 mile flight over Gulfs of Mexico
· Percentage wise, a hummingbird has a much larger brain than any other bird (4.2% of its total
body weight).
· Hummingbirds have weak feet and use them mainly just for perching.
· A bee hummingbird (which is bee-sized) is our planet’s smallest bird.
Identification
Size distinguishes hummingbirds when you compare them to other species of birds. An average hummingbird measures between 2.25 inches and 8.5 inches. They are also recognisable because of their long, needle-thin, pointed beaks and their sharp movements as they zip from flower to flower, propelled by this unusual ability to rotate their wings through an 180-degree cycle, making movements a blur to everything.
Life cycle
Following courtship and nest building female adults will usually lay 2 white eggs about, same size of a jelly bean. A female hummingbird sits on her eggs from 18 to 19 days, leaving for only about five minutes every hour.
When her babies emerge from their eggs, their mother feeds them by gathering nectar and insects, which she gives her babies by inserting her bill into their bills and placing food into their gullets. By their eighth day of life, babies begin to produce their first feathers. They will remain in their nest with their mother for about three weeks after hatching. When they leave, those hummingbirds are completely able to care for themselves.
Most hummingbirds unfortunately die during their first year but, those that do survive their first year have an average hummingbird life span of 3 to 4 years.
Longest recorded for a hummingbird life span is from a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird that was tagged then recaptured 12 years later, making her at least 12 years old.
Where does a humming bird live?
A hummingbird's only natural habitat is in America. Their range is as far north as Alaska and as far south as Chile. Most hummingbirds l...
