Hummingbirds

1. Hummingbirds

2. What is it about them?

3. Splashy Colors?

4. Tiny Size? Bee Hummingbird of Cuba 2 grams = 1/14th of an ounce

5. Flight in all directions • Ravenous appetite • “Cute” • Behaviors Adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

6. When will they get here? The big questions are . . . Should I put out my feeder yet? YES!

7. Tracking the Northward Migration http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

8. What do they eat before the flowers open?

9. Just the facts . . . • Only in the Western Hemisphere • 338 species • Which country has the most? Ecuador – 163 species • How many species in the US? 19; only one nests east of the Mississippi River • Smallest warm-blooded creature • Most rapid wingbeat, largest heart & breast muscles

10. Topography Fewest total feathers - less than 1000

11. Hummingbird skeleton Exceptionally large breastbone (sternum)

12. A different perspective . . .

13. Tongue Apparatus

14. Coevolution of Hummingbirds With Their Food Plants

15. Behaviors to Watch

17. Do They Sing?

19. Praying MantisPreying on aRuby-throatedHummingbird

20. Leopard Frog Dining on a Hummingbird

21. How are they doing?

22. Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas 1983-89

23. Breeding & Wintering Distribution

24. Breeding Density

25. Winter in the US?

27. Differential Migration

28. Banding Hummingbirds

29. Nest and Eggs Hummer Robin

31. Telling the boys from the girlsand the young from the old

34. Don’t be confused by . . . Moths

35. Attracting Hummingbirds • Landscaping • Plantings • Feeders

37. Feeding • Nectar recipe: • 1 part white sugar: 4 parts water • Boil; cool; refrigerate. • If you wouldn’t drink it . . . don’t serve it to them. • Feeder care: • Ferments quickly, so change regularly • Keep ports clean-use a brush • Ant traps

38. Butterfly Gardening

39. Trees and Shrubs Azalea Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) Cape Honeysuckle Flame Acanthus Flowering Quince Lantana Manzanita Mimosa Red Buckeye Tree Tobacco Turk's Cap Weigela Vines Coral Honeysuckle Cypress Vine Morning Glory Scarlet Runner Bean Trumpet Creeper Plants to Attract and Feed Hummingbirds

40. Perennials Bee Balm (Monarda) Canna Cardinal Flower Columbine Coral Bells Four O'Clocks Foxglove Hosta Hummingbird Mint (Agastache) Little Cigar Lupine Penstemon Yucca Annuals Beard Tongue (& other penstemons) Firespike Fuchsia Impatiens Jacobiana Jewelweed Petunia Various Salvia species Shrimp Plant Japanese Honeysuckle attracts hummingbirds, too, but it's an invasive and troublesome exotic species that is not recommended. Flowers

41. Ruby-throated Trivia • Oldest Hummingbird – 9 years 1 month • Length -- 3.5 inches • Weight -- 3.1 grams • Body temp -- 105°- 108°F • Wing beat -- 40 to 80 per second • Respiration -- 250 per minute • Heart rate -- 250 bpm resting; 1200 beats per minute feeding • Flight speed -- 30 mph normal speed; 50 mph escape speed • Eyes - Hummingbirds have about 8x binocular vision and can see your feeder from about 3/4 of a mile. • Tongue -- The tongue is longer than the bill and is forked on the end. It has small wavy membranes on the sides that soak up the nectar and each time the bird ejects the tongue it squeezes the nectar into its mouth. It actually laps the nectar out of flowers and feeders like a cat.

42. Hummingbird Trivia • If you were to burn up as much energy as a hummingbird does--in proportion to size--you'd burst into flame. • Wings beat 55 times/sec when feeding, 200/sec when courting. • Experts say hummingbirds don't even need to sip from a feeder laced with saccharin to know it's phony. They know and fly by. • Eats about 50 times a day. • The hummingbird isn't the only bird that can fly backwards. • Tongue is shaped like a "W." • You never see more than two eggs in a hummingbird's nest. • If you drank the way a hummingbird drinks--in proportion to size--you'd knock back about a gallon per gulp. • To hover, a hummingbird moves its wings in a figure eight. • The Portuguese name for the hummingbird is beija flor, meaning "kiss the flower."

43. Nesting Sequence