2nd September: National Hummingbird Day

The first Saturday in September is National hummingbird Day. Here are ten things you might not know about hummingbirds.

1. Hummingbirds are so called for obvious reasons - when they fly they flap their wings at a rate of about 50 times a second, which makes a humming sound that people can hear.
2. The family name for hummingbirds is Trochilidae. There are more than 325 hummingbird species in the world.
3. These include the bee hummingbird, which is the smallest living bird in the world. It measures 5cm (2.0 in), weighs less than 2.5 g (0.09 oz), and is endemic to Cuba.
4. They have amazing Brains. A hummingbird's brain accounts for about 4.2% of its total weight - proportionally the largest bird brains out there. A human brain accounts for 2% of the weight of a person. What do they use their brains for? Apparently, to remember every flower they ever visited, working out when is a good time to visit those flowers again, ie when they have generated more nectar. It's possible they even recognise individual humans, especially if they feed them.
5. They build the smallest nests and lay the smallest Eggs of any bird species. Their nests are about the size of a Walnut shell, and made from moss, leaves and Spider silk. Their eggs are smaller than Jelly beans.
6. The word for a collection of hummingbirds is a charm.
7. Their metabolism is superfast. An average hummingbird’s heart rate is more than 1,200 beats per minute, and it needs to eat pretty much constantly, taking in half its body weight in sugar every day. They don't only eat nectar - small insects, tree sap and fruit juice are also on their menu. When food is scarce they enter a state of torpor, in which they can slow their metabolic rate down to a fifteenth of its usual rate. They are quite long-lived for animals with a high metabolic rate - their lifespan is 3-12 years.
8. They have good eyesight and can see as many colours as we do, probably more since they can see ultraviolet light as well. They also have a third set of eyelids to protect their eyes while they are flying.
9. They can fly at speeds exceeding 54 km/h (34 mph). They can hover, and even fly upside down. They are pretty crap at walking, though. They have tiny feet which they mainly use for perching or scratching themselves. They put all their evolutionary energy into flying - their pectoral muscles, used for this activity, account for up to 30% of a hummingbird's body weight.
10. They feature quite a lot in South American mythology. To the Aztecs, they represented vigour and energy; their long, sharp beaks were symbolic of weaponry (helped by the fact that hummingbirds are actually very aggressive - not only with each other but have been known to attack much larger birds) and sexual potency. The Aztec god of war, Huitzilopochtli, is often depicted as a hummingbird, and their fallen warriors were said to be reincarnated as hummingbirds. They were important enough that one of the creatures depicted in the famous Nazca Lines is a hummingbird. Another land for which these birds are important is Trinidad and Tobago, which has a hummingbird on its coat of arms and as the symbol of its national airline.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications