The Hummingbird – Color for the Garden

So many today love seeing a visit of the beautiful Hummingbird to their garden or a Hummingbird feeder.

A Hummingbird can flap their wings at an amazing speed some flap their wings at about 90 times per second depending on the species. The fastest Hummingbird can fly about 34 miles per hour.

The smallest Hummingbird is the Bee Hummingbird. This small bird is not much  larger that a large insect and has a nest about the size of a thimble where two chicks would reside. These fearless little birds will ward off animals much larger than they are and will even dart at humans that get too close to their nests.

Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of a flower just like bees. Since nectar can be a poor source of nutrients these small birds will get the nutrients they need from feeding on insects and spiders.

You can feed Hummingbirds by using a Hummingbird feeder when you use a feeder you can view these wondrous birds up close. A feeder can also help these small birds when there aren’t many flower blossoms available.

When feeding a Hummingbird use only white granulated sugar. How much sugar is in a the liquid feed to Hummingbirds? A common recipe is 1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of water. You boil the water and mix in the sugar, be sure to cool the liquid before putting it into the feeder. Some will us a little red food dye to give the liquid some color.

Hummingbirds have straight long bills but some humming birds such as the Thornbills have a short sharp bill designed for short flowers and if there is a long flower they will pierce the base of them.

A Hummingbird dosen’t spend every minute flying since the total of energy they would use up would  be too much for them. They like small meals and consume up to five times their body weight each day. The feed up to 15% and sit digesting their food up to 80% of the time.

Please visit my blog on pets and animals at www.lovemypets.info for more information about our friends birds and animals.

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