Hummingbirds

What is it about them?

Splashy Colors?

Tiny Size?

Bee Hummingbird of Cuba

2 grams = 1/14th of an ounce

• Flight in all directions• Ravenous appetite• “Cute”• Behaviors

Adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

When will they get here?

Should I put out my feeder yet?

The big questions are . . .

YES!

Tracking the Northward Migrationhttp://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

What do they eat before the flowers open?

Just the facts . . .• Only in the Western Hemisphere

• 338 species

• Which country has the most? Ecuador – 163 species• How many species in the US?

19; only one nests east of the Mississippi River• Smallest warm-blooded creature• Most rapid wingbeat, largest heart & breast muscles

Topography

Fewest total feathers - less than 1000

Hummingbird skeleton

Exceptionally large breastbone (sternum)

A different perspective . . .

Tongue Apparatus

Coevolution of Hummingbirds With Their Food Plants

Behaviors to Watch

Do They Sing?

Praying MantisPreying on a

Ruby-throated

Hummingbird

Leopard Frog Dining on a Hummingbird

How are they doing?

Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas 1983-89

Breeding & Wintering Distribution

Breeding Density

Winter in the US?

Differential MigrationDifferential Migration

Banding Hummingbirds

Nest and Eggs

Hummer Robin

Telling the boys from the girlsand the young from the old

Moths

Don’t be confused by . . .

Attracting Hummingbirds

•Landscaping

•Plantings

•Feeders

Feeding

Nectar recipe:

•1 part white sugar: 4 parts water

•Boil; cool; refrigerate.

•If you wouldn’t drink it . . . don’t serve it to them.

Feeder care:

•Ferments quickly, so change regularly

•Keep ports clean-use a brush

•Ant traps

Butterfly Gardening

Plants to Attract and Feed Hummingbirds Trees and Shrubs

• Azalea

• Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)

• Cape Honeysuckle

• Flame Acanthus

• Flowering Quince

• Lantana

• Manzanita

• Mimosa

• Red Buckeye

• Tree Tobacco

• Turk's Cap

• Weigela

Vines • Coral Honeysuckle

• Cypress Vine

• Morning Glory

• Scarlet Runner Bean

• Trumpet Creeper

Perennials• Bee Balm (Monarda) • Canna • Cardinal Flower • Columbine • Coral Bells • Four O'Clocks • Foxglove • Hosta • Hummingbird Mint (Agastache) • Little Cigar • Lupine • Penstemon • Yucca

Annuals• Beard Tongue (& other penstemons) • Firespike • Fuchsia • Impatiens • Jacobiana • Jewelweed • Petunia • Various Salvia species • Shrimp Plant • Japanese Honeysuckle attracts

hummingbirds, too, but it's an invasive and troublesome exotic species that is not recommended.

Flowers

Ruby-throated Trivia

• Oldest Hummingbird – 9 years 1 month• Length -- 3.5 inches • Weight -- 3.1 grams • Body temp -- 105°- 108°F • Wing beat -- 40 to 80 per second • Respiration -- 250 per minute • Heart rate -- 250 bpm resting; 1200 beats per minute feeding • Flight speed -- 30 mph normal speed; 50 mph escape speed• Eyes - Hummingbirds have about 8x binocular vision and can see your

feeder from about 3/4 of a mile. • Tongue -- The tongue is longer than the bill and is forked on the end. It

has small wavy membranes on the sides that soak up the nectar and each time the bird ejects the tongue it squeezes the nectar into its mouth. It actually laps the nectar out of flowers and feeders like a cat.

Hummingbird Trivia• If you were to burn up as much energy as a hummingbird does--

in proportion to size--you'd burst into flame.

• Wings beat 55 times/sec when feeding, 200/sec when courting.

• Experts say hummingbirds don't even need to sip from a feeder laced with saccharin to know it's phony. They know and fly by.

• Eats about 50 times a day.

• The hummingbird isn't the only bird that can fly backwards.

• Tongue is shaped like a "W."

• You never see more than two eggs in a hummingbird's nest.

• If you drank the way a hummingbird drinks--in proportion to size--you'd knock back about a gallon per gulp.

• To hover, a hummingbird moves its wings in a figure eight.

• The Portuguese name for the hummingbird is beija flor, meaning "kiss the flower."

Nesting Sequence