Hummingbirds are very tiny birds.
They move their wings very very fast.
Their flapping wings make a humming sound.
A hummingbird has a long, thin tongue.
It puts the tongue inside a flower to drink the nectar.
What are hummingbirds?
There are more than a hundred species (kinds) of hummingbird.
They are tiny birds, most species being between 7.5 -13 cm long.
©Getty Images
The males have brightly coloured, often iridescent (like colours in a soap bubble), feathers that make them look like tiny jewels in the sunlight.
The smallest of all birds, the bee hummingbird, sharing a flower with a honey bee. ©Getty
The smallest of all birds is the bee hummingbird.
Distribution (where in the world they are found) and habitat
Hummingbirds are found in both American continents, from the southern part of Alaska to the tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego. They are also found in the Caribbean islands. However, most species of hummingbird are found in the warmer parts of Central and South America: for example, in the South American country of Colombia there are more than 160 species and in Ecuador there are about 130 species. There are less than 10 species in the cooler countries of Chile and Canada.
With such a wide distribution, they live in many kinds of habitat, including temperate woodlands, mountain meadows, cloud forests, tropical rainforests, and deserts. However, hummingbird habitats always include an abundance of flowers. This means of course that hummingbirds can frequently be seen in many suburban gardens throughout the USA.
The hummingbird wings are moving so fast they are a blur. ©Getty Images
Body Facts
Depending on which species they are, hummingbirds flap their wings 10-90 times per second. The Giant Hummingbird’s wings beat 10 times per second, and medium sized hummingbirds beat their wings around 20-25 times per second.
Hummingbirds fly up, down, forwards and sideways, can hover in one spot, and are the only birds that can fly backwards or upside down.
They can fly faster than 24 km per second! The rapid wing beats of their tiny wings makes a faint humming sound, which is how they got their name. Their feet are made for perching, not walking.
Hummingbirds have long, fairly straight bills but some species have different shaped bills to allow them to feed in specialised ways, depending on where they live. For example, there are some with curved bills that fit into flowers with curved corollas (inner parts), some have short, sharp bills so they can feed from flowers with short corollas.
A green-crowned brilliant hummingbird. The iridescent colours are jewel-like ©Getty Images
Male hummingbirds have patches of flat brilliantly coloured feathers that flash when they catch the sunlight at certain angles. These colours are shiny and iridescent, like the colours you see in bubbles.
These are called gorgets (say gaw-jits) and are part of a male’s courtship display to attract a female’s attention.
Hummingbirds make chirping sounds but do not sing.
Diet
A violet sabrewing hummingbird in flight. You can see the tip of its tongue emerging as it approaches flowers ©Getty Images
Hummingbirds feed on nectar from the inside of flowers. They have long, grooved tongues which they insert deep into flowers to reach the sweet nectar inside, along with any tiny insects that are inside the corolla.
They do not spend all day flying as it would use up too much energy, so they spend about 75% of their day perched, allowing their food to digest. They have many small meals all through the day, consuming about their body weight in food.
Life Cycle
The tiny nest of an Anna’s hummingbird containing two tiny eggs. ©Getty
A thimble in use ©Getty
Females make a cup-shaped nest, the size depending on which species it is – some are the size of a walnut shell or a thimble, which is something that fits on a fingertip to help a person sewing push a needle through fabric.
It is believed that the males do not help with the nesting. The nest is bound together and held to a branch with spiderweb. Spider silk allows the nest to expand as the young grow.
Two white eggs are laid in the nest, and the female incubates them for 14 -23 days, depending on the species.
When they hatch, the mother feeds them small insects and nectar.
The life span of a hummingbird is between 3 to 10 years, depending on the species.
The spider silk used to make the nest means it expands when the eggs hatch and the young grow. ©Getty Images
A ruby-throated hummingbird ©Getty Images
It’s a good idea to get information from more than one source!
Watch a video of a hummingbird making her nest.
Listen carefully to hear a humming sound.
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/how-do-hummingbirds-build-their-tiny-nest
Watch a video that includes a slow motion shot so you can see how the wing action allows a hummingbird to hover in one spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn87hCEpO7I
Read some hummingbird facts
http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/facts.php
https://birdwatchingbuzz.com/hummingbird-facts-for-kids/
