Amazing Facts about Hummingbirds
We could fill entire books with “amazing facts” about hummingbirds because they are birds to which the adjective “amazing” very much applies. Here are just a few of the best ones:
How many are you apt to view at the Bailey's Bed'n Bale?
Rufous, Calliope, & Black-chinned Hummingbirds are the species you could see in N.W. Montana.
hummingbird and flower
Mighty Mites
Hummingbirds require the most energy to live of any warm-blooded animal. And they beat all other birds in these categories: the highest body temperature, the proportionally largest brain and heart, fastest heart rate, fastest wing beats.
Speed
In normal direct flight, hummingbirds can fly as fast as 25 to 30 miles per hour. During the steep downward dives in a courtship flight, a male hummingbird may reach speeds of 60 miles per hour.
Metabolism
Hummingbirds have such incredibly active metabolisms that they have to feed throughout the day in order to “keep their motors running.” A human trying to match this rate of consumption would need to eat 70-times the amount of food we normally eat on a daily basis. We all get extra hungry from time to time, but could you handle 70 cheeseburgers in a day?
Hummingbirds and Plants
Hummingbirds and native plants have evolved together. Hummingbirds derive nectar from probing into plant blossoms and in turn, plants have their pollen distributed by the hummingbirds. Botanists and evolutionary biologists have identified more than 150 native plants species that have evolved tube-shaped flowers specifically to accommodate the feeding methods of hummingbirds.
Other than Hummingbirds, all kinds of bird watching is done from the back porch of the Bailey’s Bed’n Bale and often are more colorful when the wine flows more freely.
