Hummingbirds (article 1)
Seeing them so small, fluttering near flowers to steal their nourishing nectar, some call them “fly-birds”. It must be said that the smallest among them measures 5 cm and weighs 2 grams… it’s Cuban, it’s Elena’s hummingbird! On the island, it’s nicknamed zunzuncito (*1)
Here in Panama, they are also called “picaflores”, as if they spent their time pecking at flowers (*2), when they actually adore them…
It was a sacred animal of the Mexica (Aztecs); it is said to have guided them to the mythical city of Aztlan. Another pre-Columbian Caribbean ethnic group believed it had brought fire to humans, or yet another, that it had sown life on earth…
As a result, cosmogonically, these birds occupied an important place in pre-Columbian times.
Its family is Trochilidae, a large family of about 340 species, all found exclusively on the American continents, 61 of which are in Panama. I still have work to do if I want to observe and photograph them all, not to mention that some species are reduced to small colonies in limited territories, sometimes lost in the virgin forest of Darien or in the mountains…
Without knowing the details of its anatomy, at first glance it appears that this small specimen has nothing to do with other birds on the globe.
To give you an idea, you buy a F-35 from Loockheed-Martin (some $1 billion, still…) and a civilian or military version from Sikorsky-Helicopters, as you wish, then place the two machines in your garage and wait for them to mate. The performance of the fruit of their love will closely resemble that of our little friends. The hummingbird is the only bird capable of flying backward, it can hover or move in a dive-spin-inverted maneuver in the middle of dense vegetation at nearly 100 km/hour or even do loops…
Some “technical” information about the little feathered speedster.
Unlike all other bird species on the globe, their wings are attached to the body by an extremely flexible ball joint allowing 180° movement! In flight, the joint makes figure eights, sometimes circular, sometimes oval, and, if you please, 80 times per second, up to 200 times in a dive…
They have a “heart this big”, 2.5% of their weight! In humans, it’s about 0.40%.
The pectoral muscles, the engine of the wings, reach nearly 30% of their weight (imagine, it was barely 6% for Schwarzenegger, in his time of 7 Mr. Olympia titles).
Between 300 and 500 breaths and up to 1000 heartbeats per minute.
In short, if it wanted to, it would be mentioned x times in the Guinness World Records.
As if all these extraordinary characteristics were not enough, American researchers recently discovered that hummingbirds possess an additional type of photoreceptor cone in the structure of their retina. They can therefore distinguish colors that the human eye is unable to see (*3).
To fuel this marvelous, feathered machine, the hummingbird must consume the equivalent of its weight daily. Mostly sugar, found in flower nectar, it visits nearly 1000 per day… It also eats small insects that provide the necessary protein.Feeding about ten times an hour, in sequences of a maximum of one minute, it therefore spends some 70% of its day perched, resting. This is the only use it makes of its legs, except to scratch itself if something itches, but it never uses them to walk.
To spend the night, without food, the small flying phenomenon goes into lethargy, slowing its breathing, heart rate, and allowing its body temperature to drop from 40° to 21°. In this state, it is very vulnerable, incapable of reacting, even in the presence of a predator.
Some species, to undertake great migrations, store fat, up to 50% of their weight, before departure.
Here, in Panama, only one species is migratory, the beautiful Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). It will spend the summer, and nest, in Canada, thousands of kilometers away! It has been reported that this hummingbird crosses the 800 km of the Gulf of Mexico in one go, on the way there and back.
Notes:
*1– “zunzuncito”, literally “the little zunzun”, an onomatopoeia recalling the rustling of its ultra-fast wing beats.
*2– The one that pierces the base of flowers is rather its competitor in the search for nectar, the Slaty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa plumbea). Unlike hummingbirds, this species therefore has no pollinating function. (see photo below)
*3– According to researchers, this ability to discern non-spectral colors, such as ultraviolet wavelengths, could play an essential role in many aspects of their lives.
See article: https://dailygeekshow.com/colibri-perception-couleur/)
All photos are by the author and are not royalty-free.
