A Gallery of Hummingbird Fun Facts

There are lots of Hummingbird Fun Facts out there.  Here's a gallery of images to help illustrate a few of these fascinating facts.

Hummingbirds have a crop in their throat to store extra food, either nectar or insects.  You can see a little bulge in this guy's throat where the crop is.

They do not have an innate preference for red.
Each hummingbird must learn to associate red, purple, or other colored flowers/feeders and food.  Here's one enjoying a stop at a purple-colored feeder.

 

Juvenile males have a pinstriped throat

 

Some juvenile males might also have a stray red feather or two coming in.

 

Female hummingbirds are sleek and have white tips on the tail.  Both male and female juveniles have white tips on the tail, too.

 

The red in the male hummingbird's throat comes from the structure of the feathers – the feathers themselves are not red.  That's why the throat can appear black in low light.

 

Their weak legs and leg placement make hummingbirds unable to walk or hop. However, they can scoot sideways when perched.

 

Hummingbirds have a remarkable ability to learn food-rich plants and memorize their locations.

 

 
They have a flexible wing joint and wings move in a figure-8 pattern that generates lift forward and back, like treading water.  You can kind of see this in the right wing above.

 

Hummingbirds lap up to twice their body weight in nectar every day (most birds only eat ¼ - ½ their body weight)

 

Hummingbird predators include Praying Mantis, spiders, and frogs, domestic cats, and snakes.
Avian predators include Blue Jays, shrikes, crows, Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels.

 

Hummingbirds eat about every 10 minutes; this male is getting a quick sip at a WBU Window Hummingbird Feeder

 

Hummingbirds can extend out their tongue approximately a distance equal to the length of their bill.  While lapping up nectar, they move their tongues in and out of their bill at a rate of up to 12 times a second.  Click on this image and you can see the beak, tongue, and ripple on the nectar through the clear bottom bowl of a WBU hummingbird feeder.

Comments

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Mick, thanks for your nice comments and for your visit to my blog!

[Mick]

Amazing birds! Your post is very interesting and the photos illustrating it are amazing - especially the last photo with the ripple in the water.

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Submitted via email:
I love this hummer info you sent me, they are my favorite bird to watch, I am a member of the National Audobon Society, and I like getting new information on birds. Thank-you.
Kathleen

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Thanks John. I think both of us have had fun photographing hummers this summer. Yours are gorgeous!

[MaineBirder]

What a wonderful and informative post with great photos of these beautiful jewels! Fantastic work Nancy!

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

mm & MM - thanks!

[Marilyn Moore]

Amazing information about Hummingbirds. Close ups are great.

[missing moments]

I love these little guys in my backyard! Battling their territory all the time! Great info!