Hummingbirds are a the most fun bird to spot!
These speedy birds are easy to miss.
Here are 10 fun and kid friendly facts about hummingbirds!
1. Hummingbirds are the smallest migrating bird
Many hummingbirds migrate for the winter. They prefer climates between 60 and 90℉.
The smallest one is the bee hummingbird at 5 to 6 cm and only weighs about 1.5 grams. The largest is the giant hummingbird at a max of 9 inches.
Your common Ruby Throated hummingbird is about 2.8 to 3.5 inches long.
It weights 3.2 grams, or just over 2 pennies.
2. There are 5 different names for a Group of Hummingbirds
A bouquet, a shimmer, a tune, a hover, and glittering.
When’s the last time you saw a bouquet of hummingbirds?
...Or glittering of anything other than Edward Cullen?
- Related: 9 Ways to Attract Hummingbirds
3. There are 330 hummingbird species
And they live exclusively in the Americas.
You can find them in Alaska, Canada, The United States, Mexico, and Central and South America
4. Their name comes from the sound of their wings
Hummingbirds beat their wings an average of 60 times a second! It’s so fast it makes a constant humming sound.
Different species have more or less wing beats, too.
A Horned Sungem hummingbird can beat its wings 90 times per second compared to average 60 of the Ruby Throated hummingbird.
5. They can smell their way out of danger
It's a common myth that hummingbirds don't have a sense of smell, but rather used visual cues like color to find nectar.
A 2021 study by UC Riverside scientists found they pick up on defensive chemicals released by insects and may avoid nectar sights where they detect aggressive bugs.
Turns out hummingbirds actually rely heavily on smell to locate their nectar.
6. Their hearts beat 500-600 beats per minute
The average person’s heart beats 60-100 times a minute. A hummingbirds’ beat nearly 6 times faster and that's just at rest.
Their hearts can beat over 1,000 beats per minute when excited or exerting themselves.
Anything near 200 could kill a person!
7. They can fly up to 60 mph!
On average they fly at around 20 to 30 mph. That’s why they might be gone as soon as you see them.
They go their fastest when they dive during courtship rituals between 50 and 60 mph.
8. Big brains for little bodies
Of all the birds in the world hummingbirds have the largest brain relative to its body size.
Their brain is 4.2% of its entire body weight— twice the percentage of humans!
9. Hummingbirds use their tongue to drink
Some people think their beaks are like a straw.
That’s not true.
Hummingbirds manipulate their tongues and beaks together using compression to act like a pump.
10. Hummingbirds can fly upside down and backwards
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can truly fly backwards. Other birds might hover in the air but lack the mechanism to truly fly in reverse.
They owe it to a special shoulder joint. It allows them to rotate their wings in a figure 8 pattern.
This pattern creates lift on upstrokes and downstrokes.
Bonus: The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds
Voiced by the renown David Attenborough: Hummingbirds - Jewelled Messengers.
This is the story of how hummingbirds became the ultimate creatures of the air.
Check out the full documentary below.
Seen any hummingbirds lately?
Share them on the Sparkbird App! Available in the Apple App Store.
