- Author: Michelle Davis
Published on: May 4, 2017
I read a gardening blog today from another part of the country about the return of the hummingbirds. It made me smile. We are lucky to have them here with us all the time. Solano County is a year-round home for Anna's hummingbirds, a summer time residence for Allen's hummingbirds and a rest stop for visiting Rufous hummingbirds.
Test your knowledge of these little beauties.
- True or False Hummingbirds are only found naturally in the Western Hemisphere.
- True or False Hummingbirds suck nectar from flowers and feeders.
- True or False Hummingbirds are pollinators.
- True or False Hummingbirds only need sucrose sugar to survive.
- True or False Hummingbirds usually migrate in flocks.
- True or False (for Mother's Day) Hummingbird dads help hummingbird moms.
- True or False Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly in all directions.
- True or False Hummingbirds only prefer red flowers.
Answers:
- True They range from Alaska to Labrador, Canada and all the way to Tierra del Fuego, at the bottom tip of South America. Most of the 325 species of this Trochilidae family of birds are in the Central and South American tropics. In the US, the absolute best place to see LOTS of species is southeastern Arizona.
- False Their long tongues have forked tips and grooved sides. A bird dips it into the nectar up to 10 times per second. The hummer pulls its tongue into its mouth like a pump and the grooves, now filled with nectar, are squeezed into the throat. Then the bird swallows.
- True They're important pollinators for wildflowers and some orchids and are incidental pollinators while searching for nectar.
- False Hummingbirds require and burn a lot of sucrose for immediate energy. They also need protein, fat and amino acids which they get from eating tree sap and small bugs– gnats, fleas, fruit flies, aphids and spiders.
- False Each travels alone. Rufous hummingbirds, for example, travel from Mexico to Alaska every spring – 4000 miles- and attempt to avoid predators like hawks, bullfrogs, praying mantis and roadrunners. Only 50% will live to age 1. They also are very territorial and will chase off other hummers near “their” food source.
- False Not on your life! Mom builds the nest, lays two eggs usually, sits on the eggs for 23 hours/day for 2 straight weeks leaving only to drink, feed and defecate, and after the eggs hatch, she gets rid of the eggshells and makes hundreds of trips to gather nectar to regurgitate into the babies' beaks. After the babies fledge, mom still feeds them for a few days and, as they mature, they will feed with mom at flowers and feeders. Mom will run off males competing with her and her babies for food.
- True Side-to-side, backward, forward and upside-down flight is possible because of their pectoral muscle. 25% of their body weight is their pectoral muscle. Ours is only 5%.
- False Hummingbirds do use their eyes to locate brightly-colored flowers, but any flower with a high level of sucrose is the top pick. Bees and other insects pollinate flowers with glucose and fructose sugars which are simpler sugars.
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