Good choices of food producing plants for hummingbirds include such trees or bushes as Azaleas, Mimosa, Weigela, Cape Honeysuckle and Flowering Quince.Īnother semi-permanent attraction is a perennial bed with Bee Balm, Columbine, Lupine, Coral Bells and Canna. Other hummingbirds will follow, and you may then get to see hummingbird behavior at its worst, as they dive at each other to protect their food sources. Once they find out you have goodies, they'll return over and over. Hummingbirds are creatures of habit, and will develop their own paths to food, checking them frequently and on a daily basis. If you enjoy watching these delightful little birds, and are also an enthusiastic gardener, why not plant clumps of flowers or bushes, to bring them into your yard? That makes rescue of birds trapped in garages or other enclosed areas, imperative within a short time.Īt night, their "thermal generators" shut down as they rest, and allow their body temperature to drop, so that less energy is used up while they sleep. In volume, they consume up to eight times their body weight a day.īut reduce the nectar to a solid by eliminating the water, and it would amount to their own bodyweight.Ī hummingbird can starve to death in as little as two hours, if still active. That means dining as many as 15 times an hour, on high-energy food. How Much Do They Eat?Īll this activity requires a humming bird to eat almost continually, to fuel the activity that will maintain its 105-109F body heat. To sustain such rapid and prolonged activity, the hummingbird's heart must beat accordingly.įor birds that are hot, or sleepy, that can be as low as 50-180 beats per minute, but a heart rate of an amazing 1360 beats per minute has been recorded in a Blue-Throated Hummingbird. The ruby-throated hummingbird falls into the middle range, at about 53 beats per second. Hummingbirds are very fast, traveling at an average 25 miles per hour, with wingbeats of anywhere from 10-15 per second in the Giant Hummingbird, up to 80 per second by the Amethyst Woodstar. This is one of the features that makes them so charming to watch as they flit around a garden or feeder. Only certain levels of color will be seen by the human eye, and that color will change with every movement of the feather, or angle of the light striking it. In the Ruby-throated species, Archilochus colubris, light refracting through the feather segments, breaking it up much like a prism would. ![]() In the duller colors, including the Rufous Hummingbird, the brown hue is actual pigment in the feather structure. Hummingbirds get their unusual coloring from the fact that not all feathers are pigmented, or colored. ![]() How long they have been in America is unknown, but they have delighted bird watchers for many years, with their quick dashes into the garden, and the shine of the sun on brilliant feathers.Įast of the Rockies, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the most common hummingbird and recognized for its iridescent feathering, and dazzling ruby-red throat.
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