God has made many magical creatures but, hummingbirds are exceptional. They are very charming and known as “the flying jewels”. They are native of the Americas and instituting the biological family of Trochilidae. They are considered the smallest birds; most species are measuring up to 7.5–13 cm in length. The smallest living hummingbird species is just a 5 cm bee hummingbird, which weighs is less than 2.0 g. The largest hummingbird species is around 23 cm which, is known as the giant hummingbird. There are many more interesting facts about hummingbirds which you don’t know.
They are called hummingbirds due to their humming sound which, is created by their beating wings. These birds have the highest rate of metabolic than any homeothermic animal. To preserve energy when they don’t find any food and particularly at nightly when not foraging, they can go into inertia it is a state similar to hibernation, in which their metabolic rate became slow up to 1/15th of its normal rate.
10: They are Acrobats
Hummingbirds are magnificent birds that can fly in different directions. They can float move in forwarding, backward, sideways, in mid-air, and even upside-down everywhere. Interesting facts that hummingbirds can also fly in the rain and shake their heads off to remove drops of water. During shaking heads, they move as fast as 132 times per second and rotate up to 202 degrees.
09: The men are dandies
Male hummingbirds come with all kinds in the wild world they have purple cheek pompoms, energetic crowns, wildly burdensome-looking tails – along with some of the most beautiful colors known to nature. The males are dandies who can survive with such stunningly heavy tails prove to the females how hearty they are and what marvelous mates they would make.
08: Beautiful nests
Like a hummingbird, their nests are also tiny and usually not surpassing the size of half a walnut shell. They look like fairy nests. In it, little cups formed from moss, leaves, and plant bits, beautifully woven together with spider silk. In the nests, birds lay one to three tiny eggs, which are around the size of small pearls.
07: They are gluttons for nectar
To keep their exuberant metabolism fueled, these little birds need an extraordinary amount of food, mostly in the form of nectar. Interesting facts about hummingbirds, a study showed that a single bird can eat 3 grams of sugary water in a day. Which is14 times heavier than its body weight. They also eat tree juice, as well as their pests.
06: They never forget
You will surprise to know that these magnificent heads hold a lot of brainpower. For consuming nectar, they visit hundreds of flowers every day. To feed efficiently, they remember the flowers that they have already visited. A combination of pasture and laboratory studies shows that hummingbirds can retain the nectar quality and content of separate flowers, nectar-refilling rates, spatial place, and distribution of flowers avoid revisiting recently inspected flowers and rely on ‘episodic-like’ memory for daily foraging.”
05: They have magnificent eyes and unique tongues
Hummingbirds can’t smell very well, but interesting facts that they have great eyes. They can see a whole array of colors that normal creatures not, thanks to their ability to process ultraviolet light. The tongue of hummingbirds is flat and splits from the tip like a W shape. Each flap of the forked tongue has a fringed end which, looks like a feather. During eating, it extends their tongue to pick the nectar up. They spread the tip for covering the fluid of nectar and then bring it back to their mouth. They also have long beaks that can easily sip out the nectar at the bottom of the flower.
04: They visit over 1,000 flowers regularly
Hummingbirds consume a high amount of nectar for carbohydrates, which is the main source of energy. Flower nectar is the best source of sugar, interesting facts that hummingbirds consume five to eight doses per hour. A hummingbird visits almost more than 1,000 flowers to complete their daily nectar task.
03: The weight of the hummingbird
As you know, hummingbirds have different shapes and sizes, but none of them are heavy. The average weight of a hummingbird is around 4g but could fatten up to a fairly striking 8g before heading off on migration. The smallest hummingbird is the bee, which is the smallest bird of this kind. A male bee is only a size 5cm long and weighs less than 2g.
02: Predators of hummingbirds
They might be the most energetic birds in the world, but it doesn’t mean they are safe from predators. Due to their small size, the list of their predators is pretty long. Reptiles like to eat hummingbirds, snakes and lizards and frogs, or even fish that jump clear out of the water to catch their prey. Other predators of hummingbirds are shrikes, corvids, and roadrunners.
01: Solitary creatures
Hummingbirds are not social creatures; they do not like to fly as a flock and mostly migrate individually. During mating season, these cute little birds turn into feisty fighters. Male hummingbirds have seen attempting to stab each other in the throat using their beaks just to attract females. They are also very regional and, don’t allow other birds to come into their territory. Courtyard bird watchers are most often visited by one leading hummingbird that defends all the feeders and gets rid of stalkers.
