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The smallest birds on earth

I am sure we have all seen one. This tiny little bird, beautiful iridescent feathers. One of our smallest birds on this earth in the hummingbird family. Motoring around our flowers and even our heads. Ruby Throated hummingbirds. What amazing little birds they are. A mere 3.5 inches long weighing in at about 3.1 to maybe 3.4 grams (1 oz) for us older folks who still only grasp the old ways. Its body temperature runs between 105 to 108 deg F. The adult male has the most amazing ruby red throat that just glistens and flashes at you. Especially if he gets excited. Female has a lovely white throat. If you watch a hummer at your flowers or feeder you will notice the wings are just a blur. They beat 40 to 80 beats per second, hard to even imagine. And the heart rate at rest is a whopping 250 beats per minute and at feeding is 1200 beats per minute. Amazing! Their tiny tongue is longer than their bill and is actually forked at the end and grooved at the sides. They use that to scoop up the nectar and soak it up then squeeze it into their mouths.

As they go buzzing by we think “boy that's a fast bird” fast it is, anywhere from 30 mph to 50mph if they are speeding away. They think these birds can see your feeder from approx. ¾ of a mile away having incredible eye sight. The female builds her nest out of down from dandelions and thistles, with maybe some lichen around it, is only the size of a quarter and is so soft for the wee eggs n babes. It attaches to the tiniest branches using spiders webbing. But beware; a tiny hummingbird can get caught up in a strong spider's web. So I make sure there are none around the feeders. Just in case. Usually she lays 2 white eggs that hatch in 12 to 15 days, 2 to 3 days apart the way they are laid. The female does it all. The male does his thing and off he goes. Leaving her to all the parenting. Nestlings come out of the nest in about 18 to 23 days. As you can imagine, Mom has her hands, I mean “feathers” full.

This tiny bird will soon be leaving us to take its incredible journey south. Flying across the Gulf of Mexico, wintering in Central America. It takes from 18 to 24 hours to fly across the gulf, and it does this twice a year during spring and fall migration. Hummingbirds love turtlehead, bee balm, jewelweed & lavender, to name a few plants you should have in your garden. Making your own nectar is best. 1 part sugar to 4 parts boiled water. Boiling just helps to dissolve the sugar. Can keep in fridge for 2 weeks, change feeders every 3-4 days in the very hot weather over 80Deg F. Clean with hot water and bottle brush. I like glass feeders best that come apart for the best cleaning, plastic tend to mold up quicker. Once a month a good cleaning with ¼ cup bleach to 1 gal water and rinse very well with hot water if needed. DO NOT ADD FOOD COLORING. This can harm the birds in time causing a fungus on their tongue. Red is not needed. They also eat insects, caterpillars, aphids, spiders etc as the main part of their diet, lots of those this year. To keep ants off get an ant guard from the store which is a cup you hang the feeder from that holds water. The ants cannot cross this to the feeder. They work. Bee guards for bees. Then just sit back, and enjoy this incredible little bird.

By Jennifer Howard

Post date: 2013-10-05 19:41:44
Post date GMT: 2013-10-05 23:41:44
Post modified date: 2013-10-11 09:29:08
Post modified date GMT: 2013-10-11 13:29:08