The hummingbird is a muscular flying machine with 30 percent of its total body weight coming from the muscles it uses to fly. The hummingbird is tiny--most are two to three inches long--and moves quickly. Hummingbirds that live in the United States and Canada migrate south for the winter. These colorful birds possess iridescent feathers that the males employ to attract the female of their species.
Hummingbird Numbers
Hummingbirds number almost 350 species in the Americas, where they live exclusively. This makes them the second biggest bird family in all the Western Hemisphere. The heart of a hummingbird beats as many as 1,260 times in a single minute. Species such as the ruby-throated hummingbird beat their wings as rapidly as 53 times in a second. The brain in relation to the size of the bird is the largest in the bird world, making up a bit over 4 percent of its body weight.
Flying Ability
The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards, sideways and hover like a helicopter. This ability comes from the fact that hummingbirds can rotate their wings in a circular motion. The hovering motion resembles a swimmer trying to stay above water, as the bird rotates its wings backwards and forwards in figure-eight patterns. Hummingbirds can achieve full speed in the blink of an eye, and even fly upside down at times to avoid predatory birds. The bird has very weak feet that are not suited for walking or hopping.
Mating
The female hummingbird raises her brood by herself. These birds do not mate for life like many other species. The male courts and breeds with the female and then takes off, leaving her to construct a nest. The nest is as small as a large thimble and comprised of various materials, such as spider silk and the down from plants.
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
The ruby-throated hummingbird is the only one that breeds in North America. Its range covers the eastern half of the nation, where it is the most widely represented hummingbird. Contrary to popular belief, this species does not have a strong attraction to different colored feeders, and chooses its place to eat based on its location.
Rufous Hummingbird
The rufous hummingbird breeds farther north than any other hummingbird, with its range extending to southern Alaska. It is so territorial that it will chase away any other hummingbirds from near its nest, and even dive-bomb small mammals. The bird flies almost 4,000 miles one way to winter in Mexico, and has such a fine memory that it will look in the same places each year for bird feeders that it has eaten at.
Diet
Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of flowers and small insects. The bird has a special tongue that it inserts into a flower to gather up the nectar, with the tongue absorbing the nectar much like paper towels sop up water. A hummingbird can pay a visit to as many as 1,000 flowers in a day in search of food. The insects it eats include caterpillars, aphids, mosquitoes, bees and gnats. It often takes them from spider webs or grabs them out of the resin of trees.
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