Humming birds are the smallest birds in the world, weighing as little as 2 grams (a u.s. penny weighs 2.5 grams!). While in flight, they have the highest metabolism of any animal on earth, with a heart rate of about 1220 beats per minute. To save energy at night they can enter a state called 'Torpor', in which they lower their metabolism (slowing their hear rate down to 50 beats per minute), to conserve up to 95% of it's energy.
This is the 'Bee' hummingbird. The smallest, of the smallest birds in the world.
Humming birds are also the only bird that flies by beating it's wings in a circular motion, which allows it to hover, fly backwards, sideways or even upside down. Most humming birds beat their wings around 20 times per second, but the smallest birds can be up to 70 beats per second! This allows humming birds to fly at speeds over 50 km/h, and even up to 100 km/h during a dive. They are like little F1 cars with wings.
Humming birds are also smart. They are said to remember every flower they visit (which is about 1000 a day). Although for some reason they get trapped in our skylight, and can actually fly until they die - if they don't fly down to get out. I helped three tired birds out of the skylight this week. Once I even had to feed one before he could fly away. They need to eat constantly - a few times their body weight every day.
These little guys can only be found in North and South America. They actually migrate every season over 3000 km, from as far south as Chile to as far north as Alaska. Including over 700km non-stop flight over the gulf of Mexico! Hard to imagine such a long trip for such a little guy. Soo far!
TR