Notes from Papaw: 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.