More than you ever wanted to know about hummingbirds with many thanks to the World of Hummingbirds website! See the link here.

http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/nest.php

• There are, according to the IOC, 338 species of hummingbirds. Only ten species of hummers have significant ranges north of Mexico!!!!
• Females find iridescent feathers attractive.
• Hummingbirds do not mate for life.
• Male hummingbirds do not help raise the young.
• Female hummingbirds do all the nest building.
• A hummingbird baby is about the size of a penny.
• Females will lay a clutch of two eggs.
• Baby hummingbirds cannot fly.
• Baby hummingbirds will remain in a nest for three (3) weeks.
• Most hummingbirds die in the first year of life.
• A hummingbird will take about 250 breaths per minute while at rest.
• A hummingbird’s metabolism is roughly 100 times that of an elephant.
• Hummingbirds have very weak feet and can barely walk. They prefer to fly.
• Hummingbirds do like to perch and spend most of their life perching.
• A hummingbird’s brain is 4.2% of its body weight, the largest proportion in the bird kingdom.
• Hummingbirds are very smart and they can remember every flower they have been to, and how long it will take a flower to refill.
• Hummingbirds can hear better than humans
• Hummingbirds can see farther than humans.
• Hummingbirds can see ultraviolet light.
• Hummingbirds have no sense of smell.
• Hummingbirds do not drink though their beaks like a straw A hummingbird will use its tongue to lap up nectar from flowers and feeders.
• A hummingbird’s tongue is grooved like the shape of a “W”.
• Hummingbirds have tiny hairs on the tip of the tongue to help lap up nectar.
• A hummingbird’s beak is generally shaped like any other bird beak, just longer in proportion to its body.
• The edges of the hummingbird’s top beak will overlap the edges of the hummingbird’s bottom beak.
• Hummingbirds will not get addicted to a hummingbird feeder filled with nectar. The hummingbirds will leave when they need to.
• A hummingbird can eat anywhere from half (1/2) to eight (8) times its body weight a day.
• A hummingbird can dive up to 60 miles per hour.
• Hummingbirds have an average life span of about 5 years.