Hummingbirds

a delight in the garden

Hummingbirds are dazzling, high-octane marvels of the bird world—tiny, iridescent dynamos that can hover, fly backward, and migrate thousands of miles despite weighing less than a nickel. Their beauty and behavior are pure joy to observe, especially in California gardens where species like the Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds are year-round residents.

🌺 Hummingbird Highlights

• Size & Speed: Most hummingbirds weigh 3–4 grams (less than two pennies) and can beat their wings up to 80 times per second.
• Flight Mastery: They’re the only birds that can hover in place, fly backward, and even upside down briefly.
• Metabolism Marvels: With the fastest heart rate of any bird (up to 1,260 beats per minute), they must eat constantly—consuming up to twice their body weight in nectar and insects daily.
• Tongue Trickery: Their tongues are forked and spring-loaded, lapping nectar at up to 20 times per second, not sucking like a straw.
• Color Attraction: Hummingbirds are drawn to red and orange flowers, which often signal high-nectar blooms.

🍽️ What Do Hummingbirds Eat?
While nectar is their main fuel, they also rely on:

Insects and spiders for protein—especially during nesting season. Tree sap, often accessed from holes drilled by sapsuckers. Fruit flies and other small arthropods, which they catch mid-air or pluck from spiderwebs.

🏡 Backyard Tips for Attracting Hummingbirds
Plant native flowers like California fuchsia, columbine, and salvia.

Use red feeders (but skip the red dye—it’s harmful). Keep feeders clean and filled with a 4:1 water-to-sugar solution. Provide perches and water. They love shallow birdbaths and misting fountains.

🌍 California’s Common Hummingbirds Species Notable Traits Seen When?

• Anna’s Hummingbird Iridescent green with rose-pink throat (male) Year-round
• Allen’s Hummingbird Rusty-orange tones, fast and feisty Spring–Summer
• Rufous Hummingbird Fiery orange, long-distance migrant Spring migration
• Black-chinned Hummingbird Subtle coloring, buzzy wing sound Spring–Fall

🌟 Fun Fact – The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the world’s smallest bird at just 2 inches long and weighing less than a dime. In contrast, the giant hummingbird of South America can reach 9 inches!

More about the Giant Hummingbird (now this is an oxymoron)
The Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas) is the largest hummingbird species in the world, reaching up to 9 inches (23 cm) in length, about the size of a barn swallow and nearly five times heavier than a typical North American hummingbird. Despite its size, it retains the signature hovering ability of its smaller cousins, though with slower, more deliberate wingbeats.

🏔️ Where It Lives
Range: Found along the Andes Mountains from southwestern Colombia to central Chile and Argentina, typically at elevations between 6,500 and 13,000 feet.

Habitat: Prefers high-altitude scrublands, montane forests, and open slopes, often near flowering shrubs and cacti.

📏 Size & Appearance
Trait Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas)

• Length 8–9 inches (20–23 cm)
• Weight 18–24 grams (vs. 3–4g for Anna’s Hummingbird)
• Coloration Dull brownish-gray with white underparts and a faint iridescent sheen
• Bill Long, slightly curved, adapted for deep flowers
• Wings Long and pointed, nearly reaching the tail when folded
• Flight Style: Unlike the rapid wingbeats of smaller hummingbirds (up to 80 beats/sec), the Giant Hummingbird flaps its wings at a slower 10–15 beats per second, giving it a more moth-like, gliding flight.
• Feeding: Specializes in nectar from long tubular flowers, often those inaccessible to smaller hummingbirds. Also consumes insects for protein.
• Pollination Role: A key pollinator in high-altitude Andean ecosystems, especially for plants adapted to its long bill.
• Solitary & Territorial: Generally solitary and highly territorial, defending feeding areas from other hummingbirds.

❄️ High-Altitude Survival
Cold Adaptation: Survives frigid Andean nights by entering torpor, a state of reduced metabolic activity.

Oxygen Efficiency: Adapted to thin mountain air with larger lungs and hearts relative to body size.

🛡️ Conservation Status
Not currently endangered, but habitat loss and climate change pose long-term threats. Its specialized niche makes it vulnerable to environmental shifts.

How to bring Hummingbirds to your yard?

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Explore the Archive

If you’re new here, this is the best way to explore the journey so far. Just click on an underlined link.

• Photo Showroom (for sale items by genre)
• My Blog Posts in chronological order

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• Pups & Ponies Book I – fiction book – in progress here
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• Mystery of Willow Woods – fiction short Story – written here
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• Burtt the Blade – fiction book – for sale
• Shorty’s Path – non-fiction auto biography – for sale

NOTE: All photos are Mine, taken from Public Domain, or AI Generated according to my prompts. I’ll usually let you know which is which. Sometimes I forget.

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