25 Interesting Hummingbird Facts that you Must Know!

Hummingbirds are the most popular species in the United States. If you are living in the United States, you will see the hummingbirds flying around you in the summer season. Hummingbirds’ name comes from their fast flapping wings sound. Hummingbirds come in a lot of brighter colors that distinguish them from other 10,000 species of the birds in the world.

These birds migrate around the different parts of the United States to get the food in different seasons. Usually, these birds are seen around the nectar feeders and flowers in the United States. Although these birds are tiny in size, there are a lot of unique facts about these birds, which makes them extraordinary species of the United States.

List of 25 Hummingbird Facts:

1. Throat Color

Hummingbird’s throat color makes the hummingbirds very special among the bird’s species of the United States. The Hummingbirds have different brighter colors on the throat. The throat of hummingbirds appears very beautiful with the angle of viewing, and light level. These birds are very prominent from the long distances due to their brighter color.

2. Hummingbirds Species

When we talk about the hummingbird species, there are 325 total species of hummingbirds in the world. But only 8 of them are regularly bred in the United States. Although, many more species are periodically visited the country throughout the year. Some species of hummingbirds don’t migrate throughout the year. These species of hummingbirds are usually found in central and south America, and throughout the Caribbean.

3. Hummingbirds Nest

Hummingbird’s nests are tiny, like the size of hummingbirds. Hummingbird’s nests are on the usual places like on the fork of the branch or inside a fork bush. But sometimes hummingbirds prefer to make the nests on unusual places like on the top of the wind chimes or balanced on the washing line. These nests are made up of lichen, moss, and spider silk. But it’s not easy to find a natural nest of a hummingbird.

4. Hummingbirds Feet

Although hummingbirds have small feet, they don’t use their little feet for walking. They only use their small feet for perching on different places like on short stems, and feeders. Their tiny feet’s also help them for more efficient and fast flying. Sometimes the Hummingbirds also use their feet for preening and itching.

5. Hummingbird’s wing speed

Hummingbirds can control their wing speed according to their needs. Moreover, different species of the hummingbirds have different wing flapping speed. Usually, hummingbirds can flap their wings 12 beats per second. But some particular species of hummingbirds can flap their wings with 50-80 beats per second. These specific species of hummingbirds are a blur for human eyes with this wing-flapping speed.

In the case of diving, Hummingbirds can maximize their wing flapping speed up to 200 beats per second. The unique shape and speed of the Hummingbird’s wing make them the most maneuverable birds in the world. A hummingbird can move their wings in eight different patterns.

6. Hummingbirds Flying Speed

A hummingbird can control their speed in different directions with different wing flapping speed. A Hummingbird can move forward with 30 miles per hour speed. But in dive mode, a hummingbird can reach up to 60 miles per hour. Moreover, Hummingbird has many unique flight options.

7. Hummingbird’s size

Different species of Hummingbirds have different sizes depending upon their areas. When we talk about North America, the calliope hummingbird is the smallest in size here with 3 inches length. But the smallest Hummingbird’s species is the bee hummingbird in the world, which has only 2.25 inches length.

8. Hummingbird Heart Beat

Hummingbird heartbeat is much faster with a tiny voice for the humans to hear. A hummingbird heart can beat up to 20 times per second.

9. Hummingbirds Feathers

Hummingbirds have the fewest number of feathers like their size. A hummingbird can have 1000 to 1200 number of feathers, which is smallest as compared to any other bird’s species. Less number of feathers also helps the hummingbirds to fly fast with more speed.

10. Hummingbirds Predators

Although hummingbirds are a minimal source of food due to their less size and weight, it doesn’t mean that the Hummingbirds don’t have predators. Due to their small size, the list of their predators is long, which includes snakes, lizards, and large frogs.

Sometimes other large meat-loving birds are also eating the Hummingbirds. Moreover, some invertebrates are also hunting the Hummingbirds due to their small size.

11. Hummingbird’s weight

The different species of Hummingbirds have different weights. There is a small difference in the weight of different species. When we talk about the ruby-throated hummingbirds, it has 3 grams of weight. The nickel hummingbirds have 4.5 grams of weight. Mostly the Hummingbirds have 25 to 30 percent weight in his chest muscles.

12. Hummingbird’s life span

When we talk about the average lifespan of the hummingbirds, a hummingbird can live up to 3 to 5 years. But some individuals live a recorded life of up to 12 years.

13. Hummingbird Food

Hummingbirds are like to eat small insects like spiders etc. Moreover, Hummingbirds also get nectar from the flowers. But this is not sufficient to complete their energy needs. Hummingbirds have a speedy metabolism, so they need the food after a small duration of time. That’s why people also provide them the artificial nectar to maintain their energy level. Especially before the night, Hummingbirds need a specific amount to food to keep their energy level throughout the night.

14. Hummingbird Eggs

Hummingbird eggs are the smallest among all the birds’ eggs in the world. A Hummingbird egg can be 0.5 inches in length, but the egg weights almost 10 percent of the mother’s weight. So we can say that a Hummingbird egg is also unique like the Hummingbirds.

15. Hummingbirds Migration

Hummingbirds travel throughout the United States in different seasons. Mostly the Hummingbirds spend the winter season in Central America and spring season in North America. Some people judge their migration from the sun’s movement and the length of the days. Some species of Hummingbirds are traveled through Mexico and Alaska and cover the distance of almost 6000km. There are some other species like Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that visit through Mexico and Gulf with 800km distance.

16. Hummingbird Eyesight

Hummingbirds don’t have the smelling feature, but their eyesight is powerful. Hummingbirds can easily see different things from long distances. That’s why a Hummingbird can easily find the feeder nectar even in the narrow spaces of your garden. Moreover, a Hummingbird has strong hearing as compared to humans.

17. Hummingbirds Tongue

A hummingbird uses its tongue for different purposes, especially when the Hummingbird is eating. During the nectar-feeding, Hummingbirds use their tongue to suck the drink from the feeding tubes. They just store the elastic energy on their tongue back to pull the nectar up like a straw.

Moreover, the capillary action, along with their tongue, also helps them to suck up the nectar. A hummingbird tongue can perform this task 20 times per second. Hummingbird tongue looks like a “W” shape with small hair on it.

18. Hummingbirds Breeding

Hummingbirds make a unique nest in their breeding seasons. The Hummingbird species are not specific in their breeding partners; many hummingbird species are mix together to create the hybrid species. These species include Anna’s, Black-chinned, Costa’s, Allen’s, Calliope, Rufous, and broad-tailed Hummingbirds. So it’s somehow challenging to identify the hummingbird species.

19. Hummingbird Memory

All the Hummingbird species has a great memory, especially the migrating Hummingbirds. The migrating Hummingbirds travel the different parts of the United States in different seasons and get the nectar from different feeders and flowers. You can observe that every Hummingbird will visit the same feeder or flower on their next trip. Moreover, hummingbirds also knew the time required for the refilling of the flower with nectar. This is due to their brain, which is 4.2 percent of their body weight.

20. Hummingbirds Hibernation-state

When there is not enough food is available, Hummingbirds go into a hibernation-like state to conserve the energy. Especially at the night time hummingbirds go into a hibernation-like state. In some areas, people also name this state, “torpor.”

21. Hummingbird Colors

Different species of Hummingbirds are found in different colors. A single Hummingbird is mostly found in different colors like black, gray, white, brown, green, gold, and red. But there are some species of Hummingbirds are there which have only one color. There are some species their which has an only white color like true albino and Leucistic Hummingbirds.

22. Hummingbirds Flying Options

Hummingbirds are unique in their flying options. They are the only birds that can fly in four different modes. A Hummingbird can fly forward, back, and on both sides. That’s why people also have known it as a helicopter flying.

23. Hummingbird’s aggressiveness

Although Hummingbirds are tiny in size and weight, they are very aggressive. Hummingbirds regularly attack their co-birds. Moreover, Hummingbirds can also attach bigger size birds like crows and hawks, etc. Moreover, we can also observe that a particular hummingbird will dominate in a specific feeder.

24. Hummingbirds Locations

The Hummingbirds are naively found in New World. Moreover, these birds can’t found outside the Western hemisphere. There are different areas of the world where you don’t see a single Hummingbird like Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Antarctica.

25. Hummingbirds Habitat

Different species of Hummingbirds can be found in different habitats. Hummingbirds are mostly found in tropics and subtropics climates. But these birds can also be found in temperate and alpine mountain climates. The maximum species of hummingbirds are found in the tropical and subtropical rain forests.

 

So these were all the hummingbird facts you should know, we hope you enjoyed reading the article.