Really cool little birds, and they defend their nectar feeders and flower areas aggressively.
How the aviation engineers wish they could design an aircraft that could perform as hummingbirds do in flight, evasion, speed, braking, hovering and fantastic gyrations. Partly because no human (even in a G suit) could survive the G forces of these kinds of maneuvers. The physics of the stressors on hummingbirds in flight are phenomenal.
Sort of like— “if human beings could lift what an ant does” kind of analysis.
Marvelous little birds. Their annual migration back down to the Mexican Gulf Coast and further south, following the flowers (and sometimes they go straight across the Gulf— with so little reserves on board, a marvel. There are videos on oil derricks in mid ocean who put out feeders and they are swarmed— really helping the little guys make it).
Wife loves them because they eat a LOT of mosquitoes and bugs, beyond their nectar seeking.
I’ve gotta say they are my favorites! Our last year in NC we had SWARMS of them at our feeders. I went out and bought two extra ones with eight ports each and was going through a five pound bag of sugar every week making the solution to fill them. Had to refill them twice a day! So worth it, though.
Incredible active isolation of hummingbird’s head and eyes from the powerful cyclic drive of its wings.
I often wonder at the energy they consume to keep those wings beating so fast. Can you imagine the amount of energy required for any kind of manmade aircraft to move like they do?
Cool!
Dude poses as a big flower (clad in orange, holding a cup of sugar water)
“Their annual migration back down to the Mexican Gulf Coast and further south, following the flowers”
Ours stay put. They follow our hummingbird feeder which doesn’t move much and is always full.