Top 10 Most Incredible Facts About Hummingbirds
Many people don't know much about hummingbirds, other than the fact that they're very small birds (the two smallest bird species in the world are both a species of hummingbird!) and that they help pollinate flowers. Usually the population's knowledge doesn't extend much further than that. However, after visiting a few exotic places with amazing hummingbird species, I learned some amazing things about these birds and would like to share some of the most mind-blowing facts about these amazing animals. Enjoy!
I'll give you a couple of seconds to process that. 200 times a second! By the time you've finished reading these first three sentences, a hummingbird could have flapped its wings over 5000 times.
200 times in a single second doesn't seem possible. We can probably flap our arms up and down three times a second, but hummingbirds can do almost 70 times that! The species that can do this, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, reaches 200 times a second during courtship dives to impress their mates. Their number of wing beats while just flying is much smaller, a bit under 100 beats a second.
They aren't the only hummingbird species that can go at a high pace. The average highest number of wing beats per second a hummingbird can produce is about 90, which is still impressively high.
This may not sound extremely impressive to you, but this means that hummingbirds can fly backwards while facing forwards, a skill that no other birds have. Most birds can swiftly turn around and fly in any direction, but it's more efficient not to turn around and just will yourself to fly in that direction.
Their top speed while flying backwards varies depending on the size and species of the bird, but they can fly backwards at over 54 km/h and even dive at about 80 km/h! If you're wondering how only these birds can do this incredible feat, it's because they have a rotator cuff. This allows them to move their wings in a figure-eight motion, enabling them to fly in any direction while facing a different direction.
Amazingly, a single hummingbird can visit and pollinate up to 3000 flowers in one day. Many people look to bees as the number one pollinator, but hummingbirds play a crucial role too. Many plants wouldn't survive without them!
The reason hummingbirds visit all these plants is that nectar is a vital part of their diet. Due to their extremely fast metabolism, they have to consume a huge amount of it. As they consume the nectar, they also pollinate flowers. If they visit another flower of the same species, some of the nectar from the first flower will pollinate the second.
The average number of flowers visited by a hummingbird in a day is around 1500, but they can do much more if they're hungry and a fast flyer.
Just like how they can fly backwards, hummingbirds can also fly upside down, with their head to the ground and legs to the sky. Birds aren't meant to fly upside down, and while hummingbirds have the instincts to fly backwards if needed, they don't instinctively fly upside down. It doesn't serve them much, other than being a neat trick.
However, people have observed these birds flying upside down on multiple occasions, though usually not for more than a couple of seconds before they go back right side up. It's really cool to watch videos of them doing this feat!
To put it into perspective, the average human adult's heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute, decreasing with age. Hummingbirds, on average, have a heart rate of around 250 beats per minute. Even while resting, it usually stays above 200.
If a human's heart rate goes over 180 beats per minute while working out or sprinting, it can get dangerous, and any higher could mean a trip to the hospital or a medical condition. So, as hummingbirds can reach 1200 heartbeats in a single minute, about 20 heartbeats a second, with no problem, they are pretty incredible animals.
Hummingbirds aren't the only animals that eat an extreme amount. Sometimes, snakes like pythons can eat entire animals the size of humans in one sitting, though they won't eat again for a few months.
When pandas aren't sleeping, they spend most of the day eating. However, even with pandas constantly eating, the highest amount of food they consume is just twice their body weight. In contrast, hummingbirds can consume up to eight times their body weight, which isn't actually a lot of food, but for such a tiny animal, it's amazingly high.
Most of this incredible diet comes from the nectar they consume throughout the day while pollinating flowers. They also eat small insects and occasionally other things like pollen. On average, hummingbirds consume much less than eight times their body weight, as it depends on the bird and the number of flowers they visit, but they have been recorded eating this much.
This was hard to believe when I first saw it, but after multiple sources confirmed it, it turns out to be true! Hummingbirds have extremely long tongues, probably the longest for any species in proportion to their body weight.
Their tongues have to be the length of their very long beaks and extend even further to drink nectar through capillary action. Their tongue extends all the way out, laps up nectar, and retracts more than 12 times a second, so they can finish all the nectar a flower has to offer in a second or two. When it's not fully extended to consume nectar, it's so long that they have to wrap it under the jaw, then behind and over the head, which is amazing!
Another thing about hummingbirds is that they're really smart! Hummingbirds actually have the largest brains compared to any other bird (that is, in proportion to their body weight), as well as most other animals.
For example, humans' brains make up 2 percent of their body weight, which is a fair amount, but hummingbirds more than double that at around 4.2 percent! They have a very good memory and usually have a good idea of where every flower in their territory is and how long it takes to refill with nectar.
Compared to other birds, hummingbirds have to clean their feathers an extremely high amount! All birds do this, and it's called preening. However, for hummingbirds, the state of their feathers is a life or death issue.
If they don't clean them often and dirt or other debris gets in them, it can weigh down their incredibly light bodies to the point that they can't fly. If they can't fly, they can't eat, which can make them starve extraordinarily fast, as they can only last 3-5 hours without food.
While birds are usually pretty light in weight due to feathers and hollow bones to help the air currents give them some extra lift while flying, hummingbirds are even tinier than that!
Some hummingbirds do weigh as much or even more than a nickel, but the majority are smaller in weight. Many are actually even lighter than a dime or a penny, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. It's amazing that a bird with such complexity could be so light!