Humming Bird Facts

Humming Bird Facts

Purple-throated carib hummingbird feeding

1. Over 160 native, North American plants depend exclusively on hummingbirds for pollination.

2. Hummingbirds are named for the “humming” sound made by their wings.

3. You can hear this bird from several feet away because of the humming of its wings, which beat almost 80 times a second during regular flight and up to 200 times a second during a flight display dive.

4. This large family of birds has more than 300 species worldwide. This unique family includes one of the smallest birds in the world--the bee-sized 21/4 inch Cuban bee hummingbird.

5. Hummingbirds have a long bill. When drinking nectar, they extend their tongue and lick up nectar at the rate of about 12 licks a second. The bird’s tongue has grooves along the side to help it take up nectar. The tongue also has fringed edges that help the hummer catch insects.

6. Hummingbirds eat nectar, but they also eat insects. The birds catch insects from the air, capture them from leaves, or grab them from spider webs.  Hummers also consume tree sap from holes drilled by sapsuckers, a species of woodpecker.

7. Hummingbirds may feed five to eight times an hour and may consume nectar for up to a minute. They consume half their weight in sugar each day.

8. Hummingbirds aren’t considered song birds. Although hummingbirds don’t sing, they often emit twittering calls or give static-like chase notes.

A hummingbird hovering in mid-air

9. Hummingbirds are the only birds that consistently hover in flight. The unique anatomy of the bones and muscles of the wing and its attachment at the shoulder joint allow hummingbirds to fly even backward. While hovering, a hummingbird beats its wings at a rate of around 55 times per second.  That rate increases to at least 75 times per second when flying forward at full speed.Hummingbirds can fly forward, backward, and even upside down.

10. Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds do not assist the female with nest-building or care of young and are thought to be polygamous, with one male associating with multiple females during a breeding season.

11. Because of their high-energy requirements, hummingbirds can become torpid for many hours, especially during cooler weather, to conserve energy.

12. Like most other birds, hummingbirds bathe daily and more often in hot, dry weather.  A home-owner might attract hummingbirds by running a garden hose attached to a sprinkler on a hot summer day. Attracted to the fine mist of water, hummingbirds will fly through the spray to wet their feathers.

13. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), the only common humming bird of the eastern United States, is migratory. Its major migratory route to New York State is from its wintering quarters in southwestern Mexico, to the Yucatan Peninsula, and across the Gulf of Mexico to the United States. This is a remarkable flight for such a small bird.

14. The Rufous has the longest migration route of all hummingbirds up to 3,000 miles (4828 km) traveling from summer in Alaska to winter in Mexico.

15. Hummingbirds, like helicopters, can hover.  They can also move ahead, sideways or backward at will.

16. A ruby-throated hummingbird, weighing about one tenth of an ounce, can travel 600 miles total during migration.

17. Hummingbirds not only sip nectar, but also eat tiny insects and spiders.  They may drink up to eight times their body weight daily in water.

18. There are 230 species of hummingbirds in the world; all found only in the western hemisphere. Of these, only one, the ruby-throated hummingbird, is found regularly east of the Mississippi.

19. Flying consumes a great deal of a hummingbird’s energy.  Wingbeats have been measured at 20-200 beats per second.

20. The female incubates 2 white eggs for about two weeks. Young fledge 21 days later.

21. The RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (Selasphorus rufus) is the most aggressive of all hummers, readily displacing Anna’s, Broad-tailed, Calliope, and Black-chinned Hummingbirds from flower areas.  It is one of the smallest birds in the state, weighing just 2 - 3 gm. Its heart pumps an incredible 1260 beats per minute. Males perform a spectacular pendulum-like flight over a perched female. After mating, the female flies off to build a nest and raise young, without any help from her mate. The hummingbird doesn’t sing, but will chatter or buzz to communicate.

22. If the average man had the metabolism of a hummingbird, he would have to eat 285 pounds (129 kg) of meat every day to maintain his weight.

23. Hummingbirds can be aggressive and have been known to attack much larger birds including jays, crows, and even hawks.