Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world. If you put hummingbird on one side of a balance scale and a nickel (sometimes even a penny!) on the other side, the coin would be heavier. Even though they are small they can do some incredible things. Their wings can beat over 80 times a second! This allows the humming bird to fly forward, backward, hover in place, or even fly up-side-down.

Humming birds feed on nectar from flowers and very small insects. Because their heart can beat over 1000 times a minute (yours is probably 70-100) it has to eat almost constantly. It needs to consume its own body weight in food every day. That’s a lot of food! They have a long beak and a very long tongue so that they can get the nectar in trumpet–shaped flowers that other bird can’t reach. At night, since it can’t eat, they go into a deep sleep called torpor where their heartbeat goes down to around 50 beats per minute.

There are over 300 kinds of hummingbirds in the world. The smallest is the size of a bee. Some may stay local all winter if your area doesn’t get to cold, but many fly all the way to Central and South America during our winter. This is called migration. They all have brightly colored feathers that can be iridescent (they show different colors as the light changes). Some males have long tails that they use to get the female’s attention. My favorite here in California is the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. They come to our yard often. One time one even took a drink from the garden hose while I was watering the flowers. He was so close!

It’s easy to set up a hummingbird feeder so that you can get to see them every day. They make them all different colors and sizes. You can buy nectar to put in the feeder or even make your own. There are lots of good recipes online. Just be sure you clean the feeder often so your bird friends don’t get sick.

Here’s a video about setting up a hummingbird feeder.

If you would like to know some more about hummingbirds, here is another fun video.

Well that’s all for now. Hope you liked the hummingbirds!

Love Papaw.

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day…

The Ruins of the Colosseum

This week my grandson ask if I would talk about Rome. So here we go. Legend says that ancient Rome was founded around 735 BC by two twin brothers, Romulus and Remus. As the story goes, they were abandoned and raised by a mother wolf. Later Romulus killed his brother and became the first king of Rome. We do know Rome was founded in 735 BC and that Romulus was the first king, but the rest, well, who knows. By 117 AD the Rome Empire covered all the lands around the Mediterranean and most of Europe. Rome was ruling over Israel & Jerusalem when Jesus was alive.

The Romans gave invented and built many things. They made wonderful roads decreed to “last 1000 years”. They made very strong concrete for sea walls and harbors that had the ability to get stronger with age as it sat in the ocean. They build the Colosseum that could hold over 60,000 people. They built huge temples like the Parthenon. They had aqueducts that could carry water throughout the city. The Romans had a huge army that was almost invincible. The soldiers could mark almost 25 miles in one day! The Romans had one of the first republics. We used many ideas from their government to help form ours.

Many Romans wore robes or togas, a kind of long cloth mad of wool that was wrapped around the body. Most togas were white, but the ruler, Caesar, wore one that was purple. He was the only one who could wear all purple. It was extremely expensive. The purple dye came from a special kind of snail. You had to use a lot of them for just one robe! Most Romans spoke Latin, a language only used in science today, but many knew Spanish and Greek.

The Romans gave us many other things. There are many web sites that can tell you about Roman culture, its history, and even how to make your own toga. Well that’s all for now!

Love Papaw.

10 facts about the ancient Romans

Rome for Kids

Red Pandas

 Several years ago we got to visit the Boise Zoo with some of our grandchildren. We weren’t sure what we would get to see, because it was chilly and actually dropping a few flurries, but we decided to venture out anyway. In one enclose we got to see Red Pandas.

Red Pandas are normally found in southwestern China. It is not really a true panda but more closely related to raccoons, weasels, and skunks. They live in the coniferous forests close to water. They do eat bamboo leaves like the great panda, so that’s where it gets the name. They also like fruits, blossoms, and the occasional egg.

They have reddish fur on top and black fur underneath. They have white ears, with white cheeks, and a white face. They have a reddish tail with a black tip and little black rings. They are not really big. They
are only 2-3 feet long with their tail. They love to climb trees but they are a little shy. They can run quickly on the ground by trotting or bounding. They sleep in trees during the day and wander around at evening and during the night.

Red pandas make lots of noises. They can make growls, barks, squeals, hoots, bleats, grunts and twitters. This helps them communicate with pandas and other animals.

Red pandas can have 1-4 cubs and are very good parents. The mother makes a den in a tree or hollow log for them to live in for their first few months. Red pandas can live for 14 years.

Red pandas are endangered because the forests where they live because of poachers and people cutting down lots of trees.

Here is a video for you.

I hoped you liked finding out about red pandas!

Love Papaw.

Sloths

 

Next time you are at the zoo, make sure you go visit the sloths. Sloths are the slowest mammals on Earth. They live in the tropical rain forests of South America. They spend all their time in the trees. They only come down to go to the bathroom or to find a different tree.

There are two kinds of sloths, the two-toed sloth, and the three-toed sloth. I like the three-toed sloth the best. If you remember the sloth from the movie Zootopia, the one in the DMV, he was a three-toed sloth. Sloths are herbivores.  They like to eat leaves, stems, fruits and even the bark of trees and other plants. Their stomach is always full and sometimes the food takes a month to digest. I guess they do everything slow. Sloths are good swimmers so if they fall out of a tree and into a river, they can still get back to shore.

Sloths spend a lot of time sleeping or just hanging around in the trees. In fact they are so slow that they have a whole ecosystem living in their fur. There is a kind of moth that live there and nowhere else.  They have special bacteria and fungus that can act like antibiotics! I guess they don’t take baths very often. Here are some fun facts from (https://slothconservation.org/10-incredible-facts-about-the-sloth/).

1. There used to be sloths the size of elephants!

2. Sloths are three times stronger than us!

3. They poop once a week, and a third of their body weight in one go

4. Sloths are blind in bright daylight

5. They are 3x faster in water than on land

6. It takes sloths 30 days to digest a leaf

7. If it gets to cold, they can starve to death on a full stomach

8. Sloths can fall 100 feet without injury

9. They could cure cancer and help with bacterial resistance

10. Sloth lifespan: No one knows how long they live for  (one in a zoo lived for over 50 years!)

11. Sloths have a colony of hundreds of bugs living in their fur!

Here’s a short video about sloths.

I hope you liked our sloth talk!

Love Papaw.