As a child I spent a great deal of time in the south–in Louisiana, where my grandmother lived. That is where I got to appreciate and absolutely love so much of nature. The most beautiful are the birds that are plentiful out there, the smallest of them being the Hummingbird. I have always had a fascination and love for them.
It is not uncommon to see them out here where I now live in Illinois. Of course, we don’t get to see them as we would living in a warmer climate, but I always appreciate what I can get and make sure I set up feeders each summer, trying to entice them to return. I just never saw anything so beautiful and graceful in such a small package.
A few facts about this little creature is, of course, that it is the smallest bird and smallest animal with a backbone; they have no sense of smell; their wings actually flutter in circular motion which gives them the ability to fly forwards, backwards, up, down and so forth; they can fly at speeds of up to 30 MPH; and their wings can flutter about 80 times per second. It just seems so amazing what these tiny little guys can do. And to top it off, there are over 300 species of Hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds live in North and South America only, and can be as tiny as the Bee Hummingbird which is only about 2 inches long, with the largest Hummingbird being up to 8 inches long. When mating, the male will do what is called a courtship dive where he climbs some 60 feet into the air, dives down, climbs up again forming an arc and dive down again which is their way to attract the female and ward off other males. Any way you look at it, they are just so fascinating to watch.
They eat the nectar from the flowers as their main food source. They do need a source of protein as well, and also eat small insects. To attract hummingbirds to my windows each summer I make my own nectar of 1 part sugar to 3 parts water and add red dye to attract them. It is an easy and inexpensive recipe’ which lasts quite a while. It is important to clean their feeders often enough, at least every couple of weeks.
Hummingbirds do not often stop long enough to “perch” it seems but actually I have seen them do so. To sleep, they perch in a tree and I know for a fact that the ones who visit us tend to “sleep” in our neighbors fir tree, which they tend to prefer as there is ample protection for them from the elements.
The life span of a Hummingbird is only around 4 years but they have been known to live up to 8 years. Strangely enough, I found a tiny Hummingbird on my sidewalk by our patio recently (at which time weather was changing to the colder season) and I tried to help him overnight. I was not successful and it broke my heart. My instinct is to always want to save any creatures, though I know that I cannot and wild animals do not live in captivity.
Now is the migrating season for these little guys and I will miss seeing them as they are now traveling thousands of miles to the warmer climates but I trust that they will remember me next summer because I will have plenty of feeders out there for them.
