Interesting Facts About Hummingbirds

I don't know about you, but I love to watch and listen to birds. Even though I live in a condo I have several feeders placed around the pond and in a tree fairly close to my back door. I have enjoyed quite a variety of visitors - cardinals, blue jays, goldfinch, sparrows, tufted titmouse, black-capped chickadees, downy woodpeckers, red-breasted woodpeckers, and juncos just to name a few, but the one I look forward to the most is the ruby-throated hummingbird. I anticipate their arrival in late April or early May with the anxiety of a kid waiting for Christmas morning. They are so tiny and cute so, I thought this might be a great place to write about them and their quirky habits.

Did you know that the average hummingbird weighs less than a first class letter? Did you know that they've learned to associate flower colors, like red, with food? Did you know that they use their long bills to catch insects, providing them with necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals? Did you know that they use their tongues, which are twice the length of their bills, to sip nectar? Did you know that they fly up to 45 miles pre hour and migrate to South America each year by flying across the Gulf of Mexico - nonstop? Did you know that their wings beat up to 78 times per second producing a soft high-pitched buzz?  Did you know that hummers take 250 breaths per minute and that their hearts beat up to 600 times per minute? Did you know that they eat 1/2 of their body weight in sugar a day? Did you know that their nests are the size of a walnut and their eggs the size of a Tic Tac? Did you know that hummingbirds lower their metabolic functions at night to conserve energy by going into a trance-like state call torpor where they appear dead? It could take them up to 30 minutes to get their heart rate back up to normal.

They do so much for being such small little birds. I guess that's why I find them so fascinating and why I can't wait for their arrival every spring.