Interesting facts about hummingbirds. Hummingbird - message report How long do hummingbirds live in nature

A sapphire flash, a flutter of wings - and the tiny creature disappears like a fleeting vision. A moment - and it appears again. This thumb-sized little thing is truly a real bird. Her wings make eighty beats per second with a barely audible buzz. The tail feathers, like oars, rake in the air, helping the bird move in three dimensions at once. Looking into the funnel of a bright orange flower, she sticks out a thin, thread-like tongue from its needle-beak. Feathers shimmer, reflecting the sun's rays. Even scientists, when talking about them, use the epithets “beautiful”, “amazing” and “exotic”.

It is impossible to take your eyes off them - bright, shiny, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. These birds are so amazing that they cannot be described in dry scientific language.

This is K O L I B R I

And that is not all!

There are about 330 species of hummingbirds in the world. These fragile-looking creatures are the toughest in the animal world. They are found in very different, often even harsh climates from Alaska to Argentina, from the deserts of Arizona to the coast of Nova Scotia, from the Brazilian jungle to the snow line of the Andes, but these birds live only in the New World;

The hummingbird's weight is 1.6 g and its length is 5.7 cm, with half the length of the body being the tail and beak. The body length of the giant hummingbird is about 20 cm. The maximum lifespan of a hummingbird is 9 years;

Among the anatomical features, the extraordinary development of the heart should be mentioned: it is almost three times larger in volume than the stomach and occupies half of the body cavity. This is due to the birds’ high mobility and rapid metabolism. Let us add that hummingbirds have more red blood cells than other birds;

The heart rate of hummingbirds is extremely high - 500 beats per minute. And this is at rest! In some species it reaches 1000 per minute. Over its entire life, it contracts 4.5 billion times - almost twice as much as the human heart during seventy years of life;

Hummingbirds eat a lot: per day they consume about 2 times more than their own weight. Only in this way can they maintain an increased metabolism and a constant body temperature. They feed on flower nectar and insects;

The flight of hummingbirds is extremely fast (up to 80 km/h), they make up to 80-100 beats per second. The movement of the wings is so fast that their outlines merge; very often they remain motionless in front of flowers thanks to the rapid flapping of their wings;

Christopher Clark of the University of California, Berkeley, used cameras capable of capturing ultra-fast sequences of images to capture the hummingbird's dive. As a result, Clark calculated: hummingbirds reached a speed of almost 400 of their bodies per second. Comparing the hummingbird's body length with its speed, Christopher Clark stated that their ratio is "greater than that of a fighter jet with afterburner engaged, and greater than that of a space shuttle as it enters the earth's atmosphere." At the last stage of the dive, when hummingbirds open their wings, they demonstrate such instantaneous braking that is inaccessible to any other living organism performing aerial maneuvers;

Hummingbirds do not form pairs. All nesting matters for them, from building the nest to raising the chicks, fall exclusively to the female. The clutch in almost all cases consists of 2 eggs, very rarely there is only 1 egg;

In June 1976, a buffy hummingbird flew to Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait. This is the first discovery of hummingbirds in Russia;

In addition, “Kolibri” is a musical group, a Russian publishing house founded in 2004, a Piper system pistol, and an amateur operating system(KolibriOS), and a family of hybrid balloons developed at OSKBES MAI, as well as a tourist collapsible frame kayak.

There are a huge number of species of living beings on our planet. Each has its own champions in size.

In the world of birds, hummingbirds are considered the smallest. And the Hummingbird family is their only representative.

Description and records of the species

There are more than 330 species of hummingbirds around the world. Their sizes vary from 5.7 cm to 21.6 cm. The average weight of a bird is about 20 g.

The smallest bird in this family is the Cuban bee hummingbird, measuring about 5 cm from beak to tail. The weight of this amazing creation is approximately 2 g, which can be compared, for example, with two paper clips.

The Bee Hummingbird has an interesting bumblebee coloration. The upper plumage is green, and the lower plumage is white.

In general, the color of hummingbirds is varied - depending on the species, it can be brown with a green tint, emerald green, red-brown, gray-yellow, bright red.

The color of the feathers can change dramatically in sunlight and become more vibrant. Often, even the angle of view can change appearance the same individual.

Male hummingbirds have the brightest colors, while females have fainter feathers.

Magnificent, as if sculpted by a skilled sculptor, thin feathers combine a variety of colors. The bird's long, thin beak, the upper part of which is slightly larger than the lower part, also keeps up with the plumage and has its own color.

Unique hummingbird flight

Surprisingly, hummingbirds can fly not only forward, but also backward! The long and sharp wings of these babies have 9 or 10 large flight feathers and 6 short small ones.

In flight at a maximum speed of more than 50 km/h (and some individuals can fly at a speed of 100 km/h), the wings work so quickly that they can exceed 200 beats per second.

A bird hovering in place can soar at a frequency of 50 beats per second. The speed is so great that only the shadow of movement can be seen. But at this moment the wings make figure-eight movements. This allows you to stay in the air in one place.

The hummingbird is known for its unusual ability to move in any direction - forward, backward, up, down, left and right.

Their movements are so fast that it seems to a person as if it was a fluffy bright ball flashing past, and not a bird. The characteristic sound that accompanies the flight of a hummingbird is similar to vibration.

How does a hummingbird feed?

An important point in describing the characteristics of the hummingbird bird is their method of obtaining food. The baby, flying up to the flowers, hovers in place and inserts its elongated sharp beak into the bud to extract nectar.

The bird sticks out its long forked tongue and makes real swallowing movements.

The hummingbird's little heart beats at an incredible 500 beats per minute. And these are the indicators when hovering in place, that is, in calm state.

When a bird moves, its heart can increase its pump rate up to 1500 beats per minute. Can you imagine how powerful this motor is?

The bird's miniature legs do not allow it to move on the ground, so it spends almost its entire life in flight. Despite this, the birds can sleep with their heads down, clinging to twigs with their small claws, like bats.

Feature of hummingbird

An amazing fact, in addition to all of the above, is the body temperature of the hummingbird. When she sleeps, her body temperature drops to 17C. Moreover, in the daytime and while driving, the temperature reaches as much as 42C!

During illness or when the baby fails to find enough food, a kind of suspended animation may occur. The bird seems to become numb and will not move. If she is not fed and warmed, she may die.

Hummingbirds in their natural habitat live no more than 9-10 years; in captivity, much less. During this time, they set real records for the distance traveled. The price for such a bird is very high.

It is very difficult for them to provide the necessary living conditions, since hummingbirds have a number of needs: daily long flights, a varied natural diet and the correct air temperature. They cannot be fed exclusively honey syrup, they need a variety of colors.

Behavior and habitat

In addition to their unusual appearance, hummingbirds are distinguished by their character. They are mischievous, brave, fearless and gambling.

Despite this, they are solitary and rarely form flocks. In such groups, each bird will show its own character traits and personality. Because of this, conflicts and quarrels often arise.

Reproduction

Hummingbirds breed in small, cozy nests that females make from soft grasses. The nest should be deep so that the female, sitting in it, seems to be hanging out.

They lay no more than two eggs at a time, the weight of which can be about 2 g. The laying period lasts 15-20 days. The chicks live in the nest for the same amount of time and grow stronger.

The female brings nectar and pours it into the children's beaks.

The male, since this species of bird never builds strong partnerships, rarely takes part in feeding and rearing.

But there are facts that sometimes the male protects the territory with the nest from danger. Hummingbirds show their fearless nature at the slightest danger, especially if it concerns the brood. They are ready to attack even a much larger bird.

Hummingbirds sometimes settle near human houses. Sometimes lovers of these unique birds specially plant their favorite hummingbird flowers near their houses and place drinking bowls with honey syrup. They are unlikely to present beautiful songs (only the smallest species can sing), only faintly audible chirping.

Birds can live in mountains and plains, sometimes in desert areas. The main habitat of hummingbirds is the Amazon River.

One of the facts is their need to migrate to warm places in winter. This applies to those species that live in temperate latitudes.

Hummingbird photo

Calling hummingbirds the smallest bird on the planet is not entirely correct: this title can only be held by one species from the vast family of the same name. It is as light as an ostrich feather and similar to the large bumblebee Mellisuga helenae or bee hummingbird.

Appearance, description of the hummingbird bird

The order of hummingbirds is represented by a single, but very numerous and variegated family of hummingbirds, known to ornithologists under the Latin name Trochilidae.

The anatomy of hummingbirds is similar to passerine birds: they have the same short neck, long wings and medium head. This is where the similarities end - passerines cannot boast of either a huge “assortment” of beaks or the magnificent colors of feathers that nature has endowed hummingbirds with.

Males (compared to females) have a more festive appearance due to their bright colors and intricate feathers on the head and tail, often taking the form of tufts or crests. The beak can be completely straight or curved up/down, very long (half the length of the body) or quite modest.

This is interesting! The peculiarity of the beak is the upper half, which encircles its lower part, as well as the absence of bristles at the base and a long forked tongue, extended far beyond the mouth.

Due to their weak short legs, hummingbirds do not hop on the ground, but can cling to branches and sit there. However, birds do not particularly lament their weak limbs, devoting most of their lives to aeronautics.

Plumage and wings

The wing of a hummingbird resembles the wing of a butterfly: the bones in it grow together so that the load-bearing surface, turning into a single plane, is greatly increased. Controlling such a wing requires special mobility of the shoulder joint and a good mass of flight muscles: in hummingbirds they account for 25-30% of the total weight.

The tail, despite the variety of shapes, consists of 10 feathers in almost all species. The exception is the racket-tailed hummingbird, whose tail has 4 tail feathers.

Due to the brightness, variety and metallic sheen of their plumage, hummingbirds are often called feathered jewels. The biggest credit for the flattering name goes to the amazing property of feathers: they refract light depending on the angle of view.

From one angle, the plumage may appear emerald, but as soon as the bird changes position slightly, the green color instantly turns scarlet.

Hummingbird species

Among the 330 classified species, there are both miniature and quite “respectable” birds.

The largest is considered Patagona gigas, a gigantic hummingbird that lives in many regions of South America, often flying to a height of 4-5 thousand meters. It has a straight, elongated beak, a fork-like tail and a record length for a hummingbird - 21.6 cm.

The smallest of the family, the bee hummingbird, lives exclusively in Cuba.. The upper plumage of males is dominated by blue, while that of females is dominated by green. An adult bird does not grow more than 5.7 cm and weighs 1.6 g.

The eagle-billed hummingbird, which inhabits Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, is notable for its downward curved (almost 90°) beak.

This is interesting! Selasphorus rufus, the buffy hummingbird, also known as the rufous selasphorus, became famous for being the only hummingbird to fly into Russia. In the summer of 1976, the rufous selasphorus visited Ratmanov Island, and eyewitnesses claimed that they saw hummingbirds on Chukotka and Wrangel Island.

Its usual habitat is North America (from western California to southern Alaska). The buffy hummingbird migrates to Mexico for the winter. The bird has a thin, awl-like beak and a short length (8-8.5 cm).

Another curious representative of the family has the longest beak (against the background of the body): 9-11 cm with a bird length of 17-23 cm. The bird with a predominant dark green plumage received the telling name “swordbeak”.

Living in the wild

Hummingbirds prefer to spend their days among fragrant flowers, usually choosing warm tropical forests.

Range, habitats

The homeland of all hummingbirds is the New World. Hummingbirds have infested Central and South America, as well as southern North America. Almost all species of hummingbirds lead a sedentary life. Exceptions include several species, including the ruby-throated hummingbird, whose habitat extends to Canada and the Rocky Mountains.

Ascetic living conditions force this species to go to Mexico with the onset of cold weather, covering a distance of 4-5 thousand kilometers. On the way, the ruby-throated hummingbird picks up a decent speed for its size - about 80 km/h.

Area individual species limited to local territory. Such species, called endemics, include, for example, the already known bee hummingbird, which never flies outside of Cuba.

Hummingbird Lifestyle

As is often the case with small animals, hummingbirds compensate for their compact size with a quarrelsome character, love of life and hypertrophied mobility. They do not hesitate to attack larger birds, especially when it comes to protecting their offspring.

Hummingbirds lead a solitary lifestyle, showing increased vigor in the morning and afternoon. With the onset of dusk, they fall into a short-term night hibernation.

This is interesting! Ultra-fast metabolism requires constant saturation, which cannot be at night. To slow down metabolism, the hummingbird falls asleep: at this time, the body temperature drops to 17-21 C°, and the pulse slows down. With sunrise, hibernation ends.

Contrary to popular belief, in flight, not all hummingbirds make 50-100 beats per second: large hummingbirds are limited to 8-10 beats.

The flight of a bird is somewhat reminiscent of the flight of a butterfly, but, of course, surpasses the latter in complexity and maneuverability. The hummingbird flies up and down, back and forth, sideways, hovers motionless, and also takes off and lands vertically.

When hovering, the bird's wings describe a figure eight in the air, which allows you to remain motionless, keeping the hummingbird's body strictly vertical. This distinguishes hummingbirds from other birds that can only hover flat. The movements of the wings are so fleeting that their outlines blur: it seems that the hummingbird is simply frozen in front of the flower.

Feeding, prey of hummingbirds

Due to their accelerated metabolism, birds are forced to continuously feed themselves with food, which they search for day and night. The hummingbird is so insatiable that it eats twice its weight in a day.. You will never see a bird sitting on the ground or on a branch eating lunch - the meal takes place exclusively on the fly.

This is interesting! Most of the diet of hummingbirds consists of nectar and pollen from tropical plants. Different hummingbirds have their own gastronomic preferences: some fly from flower to flower, while others are able to feast on nectar from a single plant species.

There is an assumption that the structure of the flower cup determines the shape of the beak various types hummingbird

To get nectar, the bird has to lower its tongue into the neck of the flower at least 20 times in a second. Having touched the sweet substance, the curled tongue straightens and curls again when retracted into the beak.

Nectar and pollen provide birds with plenty of carbohydrates, but cannot satisfy their need for proteins. That is why they have to hunt small insects, which they catch directly on the fly or tear off from the web.

Natural enemies of birds

In nature, hummingbirds do not have many enemies. The birds are often stalked by tarantula spiders and tree snakes, biding their time among the abundant tropical greenery.

The list of natural enemies of hummingbirds can also include humans who destroy miniature birds for the sake of sparkling feathers. Plumage hunters have worked hard to ensure that certain species of hummingbirds (especially those with a limited range) have declined, approaching the point of complete extinction.

A message about hummingbirds for children can be used by students in preparation for the lesson. The story about hummingbirds can be supplemented with interesting facts.

Hummingbird Report

Hummingbird- a family of small birds, the only one in the order Hummingbirds. This is the only bird in the world that can fly backwards.

Where do hummingbirds live? Found exclusively in America (from Southern Alaska and Labrador to Tierra del Fuego).

How many species of hummingbirds are there? There are now 330 species of hummingbirds.

Description of hummingbird

The size of hummingbirds can range from 5 cm (bee hummingbird) to 20 cm (giant hummingbird). These birds have a thin beak, with the edges of the upper half bent slightly downward. In some species, the beak can be compared in size to the body of the bird itself. The tongue is forked, long. The wings are sharp and have a unique structure. They move exclusively through the air through weak paws with sharp claws. They have picturesque tufts of feathers on their heads. The coloring is bright and varied; males have brighter feathers than females.

Hummingbird Lifestyle

These small birds are quite brave and active. They can attack relatively big birds and even snakes, protecting their nest. They can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h. In addition, these birds, unlike others, can fly not only forward, but also backward, as well as to the side. Just to stay in one place, especially small species make about 50 wing beats per second, but during flight this figure increases to hundreds of wing movements.
The heart of a hummingbird beats very quickly - at rest about 500 beats per minute, and in flight - from 1200.

Hummingbirds can lower their metabolism to conserve energy, which helps them during long flights. In addition, before migration, 72% of the weight is converted into fat, which is also used as an energy source.

What does a hummingbird eat?

Hummingbirds are voracious birds: one bird can eat more than its own weight. Birds look for food on flowers. In addition to feeding on flower nectar, the bulk of their diet also consists of small insects. Most often, birds find them on the surface of flowers, or collect insects caught in the web.

Because hummingbirds feed on flower nectar, they are pollinators of many plants.

Hummingbird breeding

Only females build nests, usually in trees or bushes. To do this, they use grass, cobwebs, wool or pieces of bark. They lay white eggs about a centimeter long, and while hatching them, they maintain a temperature 25 ° C higher than the surrounding temperature. They manage this thanks to their plumage.

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Often, people's knowledge about hummingbirds is limited to the fact that they are the smallest birds in the world. But these delightful creatures are unique not only because of their miniature size. Their bright plumage, speed and energy make them one of the most unusual representatives of the fauna of our planet. This selection of interesting facts about hummingbirds will confirm this.

Variety of types and names

In total, science knows about 330 species of hummingbirds. At the same time, an interesting fact can be traced: the habitat is limited only to the New World. Their usual territory is North and South America, from Canada to Argentina and even the coast of Alaska.

Interesting! In 1976, a representative of the hummingbird family was discovered on the island. Ratmanov in the Bering Strait, which is the only case of its appearance on Russian territory.

The names of the birds themselves are surprisingly varied among different peoples of the world:

• The British have a “humming-bird” due to the muffled buzzing sound that occurs from frequent flapping of its wings.
• The French have a bird-fly (oiseau mouhe) due to the miniature size of most representatives.
• Brazilians have a bird kissing flowers (flor badge).

Precious birds

The plumage of most members of the hummingbird family is distinguished by bright colors with a metallic sheen. Males differ from females in brighter colors. They often have oddly shaped feathers on the head and tail.

Birds have another interesting feature. Due to the refraction of light at different viewing angles, the color of the plumage can change from greenish to scarlet and purple shades each time. Thanks to such a riot of colors, they are often called feathered jewels, and the names different types associated with precious stones: “emerald neck”, “blue-breasted diamond”, “fiery topaz”, “flying ruby”.

Family record holders

On average, the body length of birds is 6-7 cm, most of which is the beak and tail. But, as in the entire animal world, there are record holders in the family that surprise with their size.

The smallest representative is the bee hummingbird: the body length, including beak and tail, is no more than 5 cm, weight - 1.5-2 g. Interestingly, some large beetles can weigh 20 times more. Male bees have bright colors from a combination of red-pink, green-blue, gray and white shades. Females have muted green-blue feathers with gray and white accents on the chest.

Most major representative- a gigantic hummingbird that grows up to 22 cm and weighs up to 18-20 g. Unlike most of its relatives, it has a rather inconspicuous brown-brown, sometimes with a reddish tint, plumage. Another one distinctive feature This “giant” is the ability to make loud and sharp sounds.

Multifunctional beak

When studying interesting facts about hummingbirds, special attention should be paid to their thin beak. Its shape and size often serves as a distinguishing feature for different species of this family. There is an assumption that its appearance also influences the choice of plants for feeding and pollination: with a small beak, they prefer flowers of a flatter shape, while those with long beaks are accustomed to extracting nectar from narrow oblong buds.

The beak is necessary not only for obtaining food, but also as a weapon. It helps males defend their territory from competitors, and females defend their offspring from natural enemies. Despite their tiny size, they are quite capable of repelling a larger enemy, accurately striking his eyes with their “weapons.”

The owner of the longest “weapon” is the sword-billed hummingbird. Its length can reach up to 10 cm, which is 2 times the body size. This record holder has emerald colored feathers with dark gray accents on the belly and characteristic white spots behind the eyes.

Not nectar alone

For a long time, scientists were sure that these birds feed only on flower nectar. But, as it turned out, for most species the main diet is small insects, which can be found in flower buds, removed from the web, or caught on the fly. During a meal, the flower's tongue lowers to collect nectar up to 20 times per second. Its bifurcated halves, touching the nectar, unwind, and before returning to the beak, they curl again. But collecting nectar is not only food, but also “work”. By flying from one flower to another, birds ensure their pollination.

Despite their mini size, they feed every 5-10 minutes, so they can rightfully be considered the most insatiable birds. During 16 hours of wakefulness, they eat an amount of food that is 2 times their own body weight. Such nutrition is necessary to maintain accelerated metabolism and stable body temperature.

Night torpor

Another interesting fact is the ability of hummingbirds to hibernate at night and change their body temperature based on their activity level. So, in the daytime it is 40-43°C, and maintaining super-fast metabolism requires constant replenishment, which the body does not receive at night. To minimize the need for energy and slow down metabolism at this time of day, the bird falls asleep, which is accompanied by a decrease in body temperature to 14-20°C. At the same time, the pulse and breathing slow down, and a kind of numbness sets in. With sunrise, birds awaken and return to their former active life.

Unique heart

To maintain a highly active lifestyle and fast metabolism, nature has endowed tiny birds with a well-developed heart, which occupies half of the small body and is 3 times the size of the stomach.

The heart rate at rest reaches 500 beats. In some species during flight it can reach 1000 beats per minute. Throughout a bird's life, the heart contracts up to 4.5 billion times. This is 2 times more than the amount that the heart of people makes in 70 years. In addition, the number of red blood cells in these birds is several times higher than usual for birds.

Lightning fast

Hummingbirds are notable not only for their bright colors and unique body abilities. Information about the fantastic frequency of wing flapping and flight speed is sometimes surprising not only for children, but also for older people. In a second, the smallest representatives make up to 80-100 movements of their wings, the largest ones - only 8-10. The movements occur so quickly that the wings themselves are almost impossible to see. When hovering motionless in the air, the wings move along the trajectory of the figure 8, which allows you to maintain balance and keep your body strictly vertical in order to get food from the flowers. This skill distinguishes them from other birds, which can only hover “flat” in the air.

Interesting! Scientists have calculated that if a person were able to make as many flaps in a minute as the smallest birds in the world make, his body temperature would increase to 400°C.

The flight speed of hummingbirds reaches 50 km/h. They develop it almost immediately as they fly out of the nest and can brake just as sharply, carefully landing on a thin branch. During periods of courtship with a female, males can accelerate to 100 km/h.

Aerial pirouettes

During flight, birds are capable of real aerobatics - vertical takeoffs and landings, hovering motionless, moving up and down, forward and backward. If the ability to hover in the air is characteristic of another creature - the hawkmoth butterfly, with which miniature birds are often confused, then the ability to fly backward is unique among all representatives of the fauna.

Thanks to a camera recording the fastest moments, ornithologists were able to establish another interesting fact: at the moment of the dive, the hummingbird covered in a second a distance equal to the size of its 400 bodies. This means that the ratio of a bird's speed to body length was significantly higher than that of a fighter jet with afterburner or a spacecraft breaking through the Earth's atmosphere. When exiting the dive, the bird behaves no less amazingly: it brakes so quickly and sharply that no other creature or man-made object can repeat such a trick.