This entry was posted on Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Bird Information, Hummingbirds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 13, 2008
Hummingbird physical attributes make them unique among birds. Ounce for ounce hummingbirds have the largest brain, heart, energy output and breast muscles in proportion to body size of any bird. They are the only bird that can fly backward, forward, sideways and hover in midair. They can accomplish this because their wings rotate completely at the shoulder. Other birds have only limited rotation abilities in the shoulder joint. They are the only bird who gets flight power from the upstroke of their wing, as well as the down stroke.
Their hearts beat 1,000 tines a minute and their wings beat an incredible 20 to 200 strokes per second! They inhale 250 times a minute and their metabolic rate is so high it must be fed constantly.
Hummingbirds get the energy they need to maintain their metabolic rate almost entirely from flower nectar and the sugar water in your hummingbird feeder. For protein and other essential nutrients they also nibble on tiny insects and spiders. With their specially designed beaks and tongues which allows them to extract nectar from deep within a blossom they can draw up to 13 sips of nectar a second.
Most hummingbirds are not even as long as a bald eagle’s middle toe. In fact, the smallest of the species, the Cuban bee hummingbird, is the tiniest bird in the world, weighing in at about .07 ounces and is only about 2-1/4 inches long. Some of the larger species can grow up to a whole 3 to 4 inches long and can tip the scales at several ounces. Despite their small size, they are amazingly hardy. Many species migrate for a distance of 1,000 to 2,000 miles.
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