Month: August 2009

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Dear Mom Hummingbird Food

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds Entergy Use

Here in southeast Texas the most commonly seen hummingbird is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  Like most hummingbirds, they seem to always be feeding or in flight.  Even though this is not true it caused me to wonder just how much food does a Ruby-throated Hummingbird need to survive a typical day.  The answer may surprise you as much as it did me. 

As amazing as this sounds, on a typical day, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird only requires 10 calories of food to survive.  Can you believe how few calories they need to make it through the day, mom?  That seem like an incredibly small amount, because you would think that they would burn far more then that per day with their seemingly high, non-stop activity levels. Sugar water and flower nectar will provide this in the form of carbohydrates or they will gain this in the form of fats or protein which is gotten through the eating of tiny insects or spiders.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we as human beings could survive on only needing 10 calories per day?  You would have loved that mom because then you could have gotten away with cooking far less often. Also, we would certainly all eat far less per day and therefore likely loose weight far more easily.

Now on a personal note, I must apologize for not having made a post in the past few days.  This was due to the fact that I was suffering from an extremely bad migraine headache that struck without warning and forced me to remain in  bed until today.

 

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Dear Mom

Myan Ledgens of Hummingbirds

I recently discovered something about hummingbirds that I never knew before.  Do you mom or anyone else have any idea what that discovery might have been?  I would be astounded if you or anyone else had any idea whatsoever about what I recently discovered, so I will just have to share it with you and anyone else who will read this particular post.  What I discovered is that  Native American mythology is full of of stories about hummingbirds, but the same cannot be said of European and African American myths, fairy tales and legends.  Why is this?  It is said to be because hummingbirds are only found in the Americas.   

According to one Mayan legend, the sun is a hummingbird in disguise and that the moon is a beautiful women that the sun is trying to court. 

Another Mayan legend is about a hummingbird piercing the tongue of the ancient kings.  The Mayans believed that  by pouring blood on their sacred scrolls and then burning them that their devine ancestors would appear in the smoke. 

Many Native American cultures have had their own myths, legends and stories about hummingbirds.  My mom always loved discovering new or unusual bits of information, so I am sure that this post would have fascinated her and I hope that you too will find it interesting.  This post focused on a few of of the Myan legends about hummingbirds, but there are so many other Native American culture’s with their own myths, ledgens and stories about hummingbirds.  Maybe that might be the subject of a future post.  

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Dear Mom Hummingbird Food

The Impotance of Feeding to a Hummingbird

I can remember sitting on the back porch of my parents’ home watching the hummingbirds feed.  It often seemed that the hummingbirds would never stop eating and my mom and I would often wonder if the hummingbirds would overeat.  I have since learned that although hummingbirds do eat a great deal, about five to eight times and hour, they do not eat until they are fill at every opportunity.  I have also discovered a great deal else about the importance of proper hummingbird feeding that I’d like to share with you.

Mom, the hummingbird will use an enormous amount of energy each day and will therefore require one and one half times its body weight in nectar to meet its daily energy needs.  The nectar on which the hummingbird feeds  will be digested in only 20 minutes and pass entirely through the hummingbird’s digestive system.  With the enormous amount of fluid that a hummingbird will intake each day, a hummingbird’s daily urine output may exceed 80 percent of its body weight per day.

So mom, even though it often appeared that the hummingbirds would overeat, I now understand that this isn’t going to occur because of the enormous amount of energy that the hummingbird must expend, how quickly the nectar is digested and the amount of urine that is excreted per day.

 

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Hummingbird Videos

Albino Hummingbird at the Feeder

This vido shows an albino hummingbird feeding at a feeder.  Albino hummingbirds are not a sperate species of hummingbird and are extremely rare.  Since it is unlikely that many of us will personally have the opportunity to view this for ourselves, I thought I would share this video with you. 

Here is some additional information about the albino hummingbird for you to discover.  It is the type of information that my mom would have enjoyed discovering.  I wish she were here to enjoy it along with all of you.  Please let me know what you think about the information you discover here.  I look forward to receiving your comments.

The albinism is of a hummingbird caused by a genetic change that prevents the formation of dark-colored pigment in feathers. TThere are varying degrees of albinism.
 
Typically, albino hummingbirds don’t live as long as other species of hummingbirds, because they often have poor eyesight and more brittle feathers then other hummingbirds and this causes them to have a reduced flying ability.
 
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Hummingbird Food

Hummingbird Habitat Basics

Are you someone who would love to create your own hummingbird habitat but fear that you you can’t do so because you lack the knowledge or don’t have enough space to do so effectively?  Well, then have a got some great news for you!   Let me explain.

If you have limited space available for creating your hummingbird habitat, don’t let that stand in your way.  It isn’t necessary that you have a lot of space to do so, because you can do so with the use of hanging baskets or even window boxes.  My mom used both of these methods extremely effectively along with all the various plants that were located throughout the yard itself.  She seemed to think that more was better then less, and she must have been correct because of the number of hummingbirds that frequented our yard.

Be sure to plant flowers of like colors in large groups.  Color is a great way to gain the attention of the hummingbirds.  The choice of what specific flowers to pant is entirely a personal matter of choice and also depends on what will grow in your area of the country.  You will want to provide a mixture of perennials and annuals.  The perennials will come back year after year and the annuals will bloom quickly.  Mom was great at always having both perennials as well as annuals, as a result the yard was always full of vibrantly colored flowers which attracted the hummingbirds.

If cost is an issue, you can grow your own plants from seeds and therefore save some money.  This wasn’t something my mom would do very often, because she liked going to the local nursery or store and purchasing plants that were ready to be planted and already full of color and beauty.  If you do want to grow your plants from seeds, you can certainly do so.  Starting the plants indoors,will help the plants bloom sooner when planted outside.  It is important for you to plant your hummingbird habitat as early as possible in order to help ensure that there will be a food source which is blooming whenever the hummingbirds arrive in your area.

It is important that the plants you select bloom at different times.  This will help ensure an additional source of nectar is a available in the spring and summer other than your hummingbird feeders.

Pesticides should not be used.  This is harmful to the hummingbirds.  Hummingbirds rely on insects and spiders as a way to add protein to their diet and they will ingest the pesticides while feeding when it is used on the plants.

Hummingbirds love water, so adding a water source to your habitat is a good way to attract the hummingbirds.  You can use either a birdbath or a mister as your source of water.  Our yard had a birdbath.  We didn’t have a mister, but I’m sure that was probably do to the fact that mom never realized that it would have been another way to help attract the hummingbirds.  It may interest you to discover that  hummingbirds don’t need the water from the birdbath or mister to drink, because nectar provides all that they need, the do like to bathe daily.  Did you know that, mom?  That is not something that I myself realized before doing research for this post.  What about you?  I’m always amazed at all that I’m constantly discovering about hummingbirds!

Lastly, you can add a few hummingbird feeders to your hummingbird habitat.  This will provide an alternate source of food to the hummingbirds and may help solve the problem of overly aggressive and territorial hummingbirds.  No matter how many various types of flowers or plants that were planted throughout our yard, there were also numerous hummingbird feeders as well.  Mom wanted to use every available resource to help draw the hummingbirds to our yard and did so with great success.