We had a hummingbird rehab expert come and speak at the local botanical gardens, and she left us this sheet with some factoids that I thought I'd share with you.
By the way, if you no longer want to have a life, become a hummingbird rehab specialist. She brought a baby with her, and all of her babies are fed once every 16 minutes. 24/7. She even takes them to any appointments with her in a specially heated box.
So.....
- Hummers can lick nectar at a rate of 12 licks per second.
- They consume half of their weight in sugar and nectar each day. A 160 lb man with the metabolism of a hummer would have to eat 320 quarter pound burgers a day to keep up.
- Hummer eggs are approximately the size of jelly beans. The female lays 2 eggs at a time, about one day apart. She incubates and raises the young by herself. The babies leave the nest 3-4 weeks after hatching and fly immediately once leaving the nest
- There are 338 species of Hummers in the world, most of which are found in So. America. There are 24 in No. America (and 17 in Arizona, just in case you cared!). There are no hummingbirds indigenous to Europe.
-The smallest Hummer is the Bee hummer, from Cuba. It is 2.25 inches long and weighs about 2 grams, or about the same as a dime.
-The largest is a Patagonia Giga from the Andes Mountains. 8.5 inches long and 30 grams (a little over an ounce).
- Their hearts are 2.4% of their body weight and beat 1,260 times
per minute.
- The hummingbird's lifespan is up to 12 years, with the average being 3-5 years.
-They can fly as fast as 45mph. They normally flap their wings 78 times per second, but males will increase that to 200 times per second during mating season to attract females.
Pretty dang cool, huh??
