Hummingbirds are amazing little creatures. They're the only birds that can fly backwards, they have the fastest metabolism of any bird, and most species weigh less than a nickel.
Flight and Speed
- Hovering masters: their shoulder joints let their wings move in circles, so they can fly forward, backward, sideways, and hover in place.
- Fast wings: their wings beat 20 to 80 times per second, creating the humming sound that gives them their name.
- High speed: some hummingbirds can fly up to 60 miles per hour, especially during courtship dives.
Body and Eating
- Tiny size: the bee hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world and weighs less than a dime.
- Big appetite: they have to eat every 10 to 15 minutes and can consume up to twice their body weight in nectar each day.
- No sense of smell: they can't smell flowers, so they rely on bright colors, especially reds and oranges, to find food.
- Racing hearts: a hummingbird's heart can beat over 1,200 times a minute during flight, one of the fastest heart rates of any animal.
- Nightly power-down: to survive cold nights, they can enter torpor, a hibernation-like state where their heart rate and body temperature drop dramatically to save energy.
Backyard Behavior
- They'll let you know when the feeder is empty: watch for a hummingbird hovering at the ports and pulling away quickly, or hovering near a window or a person, both are common signs they're checking (and complaining) that the nectar has run out.
- Fiercely territorial: a single hummingbird will often guard a feeder or flower patch and chase off other hummingbirds, and even much larger birds, that get too close.
- Long-distance travelers: some species, like the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, migrate over 500 miles nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico twice a year.