- Bob DeLacyHUMMINGBIRDS
The hummingbird is the smallest bird, not only in our desert, but in the entire world. The smallest of these birds is the bee hummingbird found in Cuba, measuring a little more that two inches long. The body is approximately the size of a bumblebee. The largest hummingbird is the South American giant hummingbird, which is roughly 8-1/2 inches long.
There are over 300 species of hummingbirds in the New World. They are most common in the forests of South America but their range extends from Southern Alaska to the tip of South America.
Hummingbirds are noted not only for their size, but their beautiful iridescent colors. These iridescent hues, which are mainly found on a hummingbird's head or throat patch, are caused by an interference or dispersion and scattering of light from flattened feathers. As the bird moves, the angle of the flattened feathers is constantly changing, just as soap bubbles do, giving off this iridescent color. These flattened feathers and iridescent colors are found only on the male hummingbird.
Another noticeable feature in the hummingbird is the exceptionally long bill. With this they sip nectar and capture insects. Hummingbirds will feed on artificial nectar that is offered at feeding stations. They do discriminate between different concentrations of sweet water and they will ignore, after one taste, those below a certain standard.
In the wild, they feed at selected flowers. Factors, such as taste, color, flower structure and nectar may influence their choice. In the South American jungles, hummingbirds play as important a part as pollinators as bees do here. Small insects are also eaten, being caught on the wing, and spiders are taken from their webs.
The feet of the hummingbird are short and weak. They are used only for perching--they never walk or hop, but fly even the shortest distances.
The wings of hummingbirds differ from those of all other birds. They have larger flying muscles in proportion to their weight than any other bird. Hummingbirds have the ability to fly backwards. The movement of their wings is extremely fast--up to 200 beats a second during courtship fight, or 75 beats a second in normal flight. Their fast wing beat, which appears as a blur to us, enables them to dart to and fro, jerking to a halt or hovering over a flower. They are extremely fast in flight: speeds of 71 mph have been recorded.
Such rapid wing beats require large amounts of energy, so hummingbirds must feed constantly. As unusually energetic birds, hummingbirds have a higher basal metabolism than most birds or mammals. Moving in vertical as well as horizontal directions and at a great speed, they require more energy than other birds. Their metabolism rate is 25 times faster than a chicken, 100 times faster than an elephant. More than likely, hummingbirds and shrews have reached the smallest size possible for warm blooded animals. Any animal smaller would probably not be able to eat food fast enough to avoid starvation. That is why, at night, when they cannot feed, they conserve their food reserves by becoming torpid (a form of nightly hibernation).
Hummingbirds are very territorial, as people with feeders will attest. Resident birds will strongly defend selected areas. Trespassers seem to enjoy being chased away. After being pursued for a distance, they often will return on the heels of the pursuer waiting for another chase. When a new or abandoned territory is in dispute between two hummingbirds, the battle for the area does not get too serious.
The male hummingbird is not a family bird. When it comes to home building, or raising the young, it's all up to the female. The male spends his time defending his territory.
The nest of a hummingbird is a delicate cup of moss, lichen and spider webs about 1-5/8 inches across and 3/4 inch deep. Located on a twig or amongst foliage, these tiny nests are extremely difficult to locate. The two eggs are incubated for 12 to 16 days before hatching. The young are fed a predigested meal of nectar and small insects. When feeding the young, the female will thrust her long, saber like bill deep into the throat of her young until it appears the nestlings would be stabbed to death. Not so: 25 days after hatching, the young are ready to leave the nest.
In birds, clutch size can roughly be correlated with mortality. Birds that lay small clutches usually live longer than birds with large clutches. Therefore, it can be assumed that hummingbirds have a longer life than our quail, which lay up to 15 eggs in one nest.
There are a number of hummingbirds that are casual visitors or migrate through our area. Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae) is one hummingbird that makes our desert its home, even during the hot summers. Costa's hummingbird is named after Louis Marie Pantaleon Costa, a French nobleman, who lived from 1806 to 1864. As a boy, he began collecting birds and later in life specialized in hummingbirds. Because of his life's interest and devotion to these miniature birds, one was named after him.
Costa's hummingbird is about 3-1/2" in length. The male has a purple forehead and throat, which can change to green or blue. The back is a greenish-bronze. The female, as in most hummingbirds, is greenish above and whitish below. This resident hummingbird nests here in the spring and will have the young out of the nest before the hot summers of our desert. The Costa, like any hummingbird, faces the problem of moisture loss through evaporation. For these high strung little birds, there must always be nectar, succulent food in the way of insects and, if possible, surface water. We can only hope that these "little bumble bees" will continue to call our desert their home, as their appearance somehow always seems to lift one's spirit.
Bob DeLacy is business manager of Copper Mountain Campus. In his spare time, he rehabilitates injured wildlife.
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