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| Photos courtesy of National Geographic http://www.nationalgeographic.com |
TODAY THE WORDS are HUMMINGBIRD’S FLIGHT. We have lived here in our home for approximately 7 years and my husband has been on the look out for hummingbirds in our yard. He had been given a couple of hummingbird feeders and has purchased a few himself. He has bought the nectar and he even made the sugar water. This year we went on a mission or rather he did most of the work behind the mission to create the proper atmosphere specifically for hummingbirds and butterflies (we had not seen many butterflies either). We researched /the kind of plants to go in a butterfly/hummingbird garden and found the butterfly plant and the roman candle plants as well as hibiscus plants are great candidates so Greg planted, turned the sprinklers to the right angle, and hung the feeder (new one of course with those colored flower feeder stations……then we waited. Yesterday, Greg yelled out to me to come quickly…..Grow them and they will come……the garden had two, not one, hummingbirds flying up to the feeders and even engaged in a mild combat for the sweet savory nectar they found in Greg’s feeder……Oh Joy, we have hummingbirds at last. This caused me to find out a little more information on those birds which seem to fly faster than jets and are amazing to watch.
The Hummingbird is a small bird of the Trochilidae family. The rapid beating of the hummingbirds wings (60 to 80 beats per second) makes the distinctive humming sound from which they get their name.
Interesting facts about the hummingbirds:
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the hummingbird is the smallest bird and also the smallest of all animals that have a backbone. |
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they have no sense of smell |
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because the hummingbird can rotate its wings in a circle, they are the only bird that can fly forwards, backwards, up, down ,sideways and hover in mid air. |
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to conserve energy while they sleep or when food is scarce, they can go into a hibernation-like state (torpor) where their metabolic rate is slowed to !/15th of its normal rate. |
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during migration, some hummingbirds make a non-stop 500 mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico. |
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during courtship dives they can reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour and can average speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour. |
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they are the second largest family of birds with 343 species. |
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their wings can beat their wings up to 80 times a second during normal flight and up to 200 times per second during a courtship dive. |
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the hummingbird has a heart rate that can reach up to 1,260 beats per minute. |
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percentage wise, the hummingbird has the largest brain of all birds (4.2% of its total body weight). |
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they have very weak feet and use them mainly just for perching.
Now for my deeper thought….After looking at the data on how determined a tiny bird with no sense of smell and tiny wings with weak feet and with so much diversity in their bird family…..The hummingbird has overcome so much adversity in its makeup and can accomplish the most extraordinary feats. The hummingbird doesn’t accept what life had given it as a handicap; it surpasses its normal expectations and this is a great lesson for all of us humans to realize. We are controlled by our own limiting of our situations; our physical capabilities; our heritage or environment. If we adapt ourselves to the hummingbird family, we might can soar up to 30 miles an hour, travel 500 miles in flight and beat with our hearts with so much excitement with beating wings and find the sweet nectar in life. The next time you may have depressed thoughts; remember our little hummingbirds and take to the air and fly.
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