2. My Experience: While I was on vacation this summer, we stayed at my aunt’s home in Utah. We would spend each morning on the deck drinking coffee and watching the sun come up over the mountain. One morning my grandma had on her red pajamas, and the humming birds began to come really close to her. One even got within an inch of her shirt before flying away. This peaked my interest to research more about hummingbirds.
3. Questions: Why are hummingbirds attracted to red? What is the purpose of their wings moving so fast? How many times a day must they eat, in order to keep enough energy?
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6. Why RED? Many plants pollinated by hummingbirds produce flowers in shades of red, orange, and bright pink, though the birds will take nectar from flowers of many colors. The narrow color spectrum may render hummingbird-pollinated flowers relatively inconspicuous to most insects, thereby reducing nectar robbing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
7. Wing Speed The Giant Hummingbird's wings beat at 8–10 beats per second, the wings of medium-sized hummingbirds beat about 20–25 beats per second and the smallest can reach 100 beats per second during courtship displays. They can also fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. They can fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h, 34 mi/h) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
8. Food Supply Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of plants and are important pollinators, especially of deep-throated, tubular flowers. They reject flower types that produce nectar which is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs by preying on insects and spiders, especially when feeding young. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
9. Metabolism 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. They also consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
10. Night Nectar Hummingbirds are continuously just hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight. 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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
11. Life Span Hummingbirds have surprisingly long life spans for organisms with such rapid metabolisms. Though many die during their first year of life, especially in the vulnerable period between hatching and leaving the nest, those that survive may live a decade or more. Among the better known North American species, average lifespan is 3 to 5 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
12. Other Questions: Q. How big are these hummers? A. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are 3 - 3 3/4 inches long with a wingspan of 4 - 4 3/4 inches. Rufous hummingbirds are 3 1/2 - 4 inches long with a wingspan of 4 1/4 inches. Q. How much do hummers weigh? A. Male ruby-throats weigh 2.4 - 3.6 g, females 2.8 - 4.5 g. Male rufous hummers average 3.2 g, females 3.4 g. You could mail nine or ten hummingbirds with a single stamp. Q. Why are females larger than males? A. Male hummingbirds are the tiniest warm-blooded animals on the planet. Females need to be a tiny bit bigger to be able to produce eggs, to afford to share their body heat with the eggs while incubating, and to be able to share their food when feeding nestlings. Q. What do hummingbirds sound like? A. Besides the humming of their wings, hummingbirds can make chittering, chirpy sounds. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/search/HummerNotes1.html
13. Resources: Information about hummingbirds: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/search/HummerNotes1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird http://www.hummingbirds.net/about.html Pictures: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geu93p2.RK3ycA4C9XNyoA?ei=UTF-8&p=%20hummingbirds%20&fr2=tab-web&fr=yfp-t-832 My grandma’s “facebook” album from our vacation.
