Only God Can Build A Humming Bird
Posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
I am not the typical bird watcher. I am a bird lover however, from the Bald Eagle down to the "Bee Hummingbird". I've never seen a Bee Hummingbird, but I read that they are the smallest of all birds, measuring about 2 inches in length and weighing 0.06 ounce! When speaking of Humming Birds, you are talking of an enormous list of types. Wikipedia has a complete listing of them and state there are 325 to 340 different ones.
I said in the beginning that I was not a typical bird watcher...you know, the guy with a sun helmet, shorts and binoculars, wandering through the woodlands. But I do love to back-yard watch. My wife and I have always been notorious for our feeding of birds and any other wildlife that comes around. We have an abundance of squirrels and an occasional rabbit or opossum. We have several Ringneck Silver Doves and a few Mourning doves who feed from our feeders or on the ground around them. But we have flocks of sparrows and a number of House Finches. Then during their migration travels, Goldfinches and several birds who like a snack as they travel. But our most entertaining during the summer months are our Humming Birds.
You can almost always attract the hummingbird by putting out feeders for them. I'm not sure if that is true if you live in a busy bustling city area. We live in an average residential area near the edge of a small town and we get so many we can't afford the sugar for them. We have two feeders hanging on one post with a crossbar at the top. The little rascals are so hyper that you can hardly get a count of them. They swarm around those feeders and chase one another at high speeds, yet I have been able to accurately count as many as twelve at one time, either drinking or hovering until another moves. I've heard it said that you can triple the number you are able to count at one time and get a reasonable estimate as to the total which feed at your stations. If that is factual, then we must be attracting around 3 dozen. I read of a man south of us who has his entire yard filled with feeders and has hundreds feeding there. It is the dynamics of these little boogers that is so astounding. I want to list here a couple of paragraphs from Wikipedia that will amaze you.With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, a rate once measured in a Blue-throated Hummingbird . They also typically consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. At any given moment, they are only hours away from starving.
Hummingbirds are capable of slowing down their metabolism at night, or any other time food is not readily available. They enter a hibernation-like state known as torpor. During torpor, the heart rate and rate of breathing are both slowed dramatically (the heart rate to roughly 50-180 beats per minute), reducing the need for food. Most organisms with very rapid metabolisms have short life-spans; hummingbirds, however have been known to survive in captivity for as long as 17 years.
The average size hummingbird, as ours, wings flap at a rate of about 25 strokes per second(!), Of course that varies depending upon what he is doing. He can fly at what appears to be the speed of a bullet, he can stop, hover, fly straight up or straight down...or backwards. No other varmint outside the insect group can do that. At one time we had our front porch enclosed with two inch lattice work and those expert fliers would come, chasing one another through those lattice holes and by our heads and out the lattice at a terrific speed. Never a mistake and hit anything. They sound like a soft muffled ultra high speed helicopter or Harley Davidson as they pass your ear.
If you live in an area where you think they might frequent, put up a feeder or so...about the time flowers start blooming in the spring. Those who know what they are talking about recommend that you mix your own sugar-water rather than buying the ready-mixed solution since they have additives and dye that possibly could be harmful to them over a long period. Also, always use only white granulated sugar. They say, and we do, mix 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water. Or that ratio for any amount you desire to make. Also, it is recommended that you change the water, if it has not been consumed, at least once per week. Bacteria sometimes forms in sugar water after a period of time which can be harmful to the birds. Some recommend that you bring the sugar water to a boil and then cool in order to retard any bacterial growth. We don't have any of that to worry about because our feeders are emptied daily by the little gluttons.
The feeders should be washed with regular dish detergent between fillings but be sure to rinse well. Many insects also love sugar water so you may expect visitors. Not much you can do about flying insects since anything you might do to exterminate them might also harm the birds. You can eliminate the crawling ones however by putting some blobs of petroleum jelly all around the post near the bottom or if hanging from something, tie a cloth heavily coated with petroleum jelly. Small insects, such as ants find it difficult to traverse a blob of petroleum jelly. Other such sticky substances could be used so long as they would not harm the birds in any way.
Early in the spring, it appears that these birds chase each other from the feeders and I suppose that is what they are doing. Sometimes one will appear to be the larger and also the bully, but somehow they all get to feed and in the early autumn, they seem to settle down and all eat in relative peace. They have to gorge themselves until they store much fat...sometimes they double their weight. This is for their migratory trip of up to 500 miles over water to be made in one flight. It is highly important that people do put out feeders for these tiny birds. Flowers and nectar from whatever, becomes very scarce in the autumn. These bird's diet includes insects such as spiders, etc., for their protein and other needed nutrients, but due to their extremely high metabolism rate, they require an enormous amount of energy food. They sometimes take in more than their body weight in one day.
Here is a link to a 8.50 minute video that will be worth your watching. Much of it, if not all, is of the Ruby Throat that we have here. The songbirds you may hear are not the Humming Birds. They chatter, which you will hear some of, and also a little of the Harley Davidson, which I mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9uxYy_Na3w Enjoy.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)hi joel,i love all kinds of birds, cardinals first, hummingbirds next (it's close, though)the video was fascinating. i never could figure out how something so small can suspend itself in the air.thanks for sharing, i thoroughly enjoyed the article and the video.my best regards,sueHi Susan, thanks for reading and the nice comment. I too, love Cardinals and we have an occasional one or even a pair visit our feeders but they are not regulars. The male Cardinal is one of the most stately or regal, whatever is a good word, of almost any bird. The Blue Jay looks somewhat similar only blue but is not nearly as attractive as the Cardinal. My favorite is the House Finch but only because of the one we raised. I dearly loved that little bird and I miss her so much till this day.Messing around with feeding birds and squirrels and such can be such a joy after you get too old to do much else. I sincerely wish I was financially able to buy a little place outside of town where I could have chickens again.I used to raise Rhode Island Reds...beautiful chickens and well behaved. I had them all so sopiled they'd come and eat from my hand, and even fly upon my knee when I was squatting to pet them.
Hi Joel, this year my wife and I put out hummingbird feeders (2) for the first time. They ARE such a delight to watch. One evening we were sitting, side by side, in lawn chairs about 20 ft from the feeders. Two of them flew right at us. One went right between our heads and the other within a foot of the other side of my head. Ours seem to do a lot of fighting, just buzzing each other to run the other away from the feeder. Some have apparently learned to get along better, have seen three of these peacefully eating from the same feeder at the same time. I agree with your title; when I watch these beautiful little creatures, I am inclined to praise our Creator. Thanks for the article.Thanks for reading and commenting Dane. My Dad died when I was twenty and shortly thereafter, I was drafted into the army during the Korean war. When I returned I had a lot of thinking to do and I walked about in the woods a lot, just looking and thinking. The beauty and variance of nature convinced me that there has to be an intelligent designer of all this. I have been on God's side and a fan of nature ever since. And things like these humming birds I find absolutely fascinating. A creature of less than half an ounce with the ability to manuever like these can, and then know when to start storing fat to be able to cross the Gulf of Mexico in one flight...is beyond natural laws.You are right, they do seem to fight a lot, although I've never witnessed one actually peck or try to harm another, only chase them.
Joel, I really enjoyed this article. Just a few days after the hurricane, we had a little female ruby throated hummer that was stuck in the garage. A friend coming to get some ice happened to know a lot about them, caught her and we mixed some sugar water for her. At first, she wouldn't drink, but after a while her little tongue started whipping out. It was amazing. I'd never seen a hummer that close before. My friend took her home to nurse her back to health and then set her free. Her backyard is being considered as a recognized sanctuary for birds, so she has many hummers there. Thanks again for a great article.Thanks Lorrie for reading and commenting on my article. I really appreciate it. I've never wanted to appear sissy and so I normally try to hide my love for animals somewhat. But all my adult life, If I see a dog hurt or discarded by someone, or a little girl being in distress or hurt, it always brought tears to my eyes. Now for some 10 years or so, birds have been added to my weak list. We had three little girls...they're now nearing fifty to over fifty. Still, one can hug me and say, "I love you Daddy", and I cry. And I'm much the same with animals and birds.
Great article. I have seen that video of the lady and her hummingbirds---It's remarkable. I have two hummingbird feeders that I have to fill at least every other day. We have an abundance of hummingbirds here in Northeast Arkansas. Another beautiful bird that we have in great numbers is the Finch.I love to keep my backyard active with their colorful beauty.Thanks for sharing this with us.SandraHi Sandra, and thanks for reading and the nice comment. Yeah, I have always loved animals and birds but I had to get old to really start enjoying them.Finches, one of my favorite birds...we also have a good number of them, and especially of House Finches and Goldlfinches, but they come and go. Especially the Goldfinches are here in early Spring for about two months and then disappear for 2 or 3 months, return until nearly cold weather and then gone again. The House Finches are around all year but their number rises and falls.
Thanks Joel. This was a lovely article to read. Nature is truely wonderful to behold.We dont have hummingbirds in Ireland, but I have seen them on my travels. A miracle of creation.JosephThanks for reading and the comment Joseph. Our crew of Ruby Throats flew south about 10 days ago. We are seeing a few, almost daily, of other breeds, I cannot identify but they are only here for about a day. They stop by our feeders on their way south. I love to watch the little fellows. They are indeed, amazing.
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