Month: March 2010

Categories
Hummingbird Food

What is Peripheral Feeding?

It is a well known fact that hummingbirds are extremely territorial and will go to great lengths to defend their food source.  One species of hummingbird, the Rufous hummingbird, seems to take this measure even futher then other hummingbird species.  The rest of this post will explain exactly what I mean by that statement.

As a method of defending their territory and food source, the Rufous hummingbird practices what is known as peripheral feeding.  What is this?  Peripheral feeding is when the Rufous hummingbirds head out to the edge of their territory early in the morning and feed on the flowers that are found there first.  The hummingbirds will feed their on a first- come-first-serve basis as a way to avoid what is known as "territory parasites."

"Territory parasites" is the term used to discribe other hummingbirds which would steal food wherever they  can and thus endanger the food supply and ultimately the life of the Rufous hummingbird.

Categories
Dear Mom Hummingbirds

Little is Known About Hummingbird Evolution

Today’s post, which is on the evolution of the hummingbird, makes me think of my mom because I am absolutely certain that she would have enjoyed this subject and I hope you will as well. In my mind’s eye, I can vividly imagine the two of us watching a show on the subject of hummingbird evolution on one of the various cable channels and then talking about all that we had just viewed.

The information contained in this post comes from Wikipedia. I have been quite curious about all things relating to hummingbirds for several years now, so I find this subject to be quite interesting myself and I hope you will also.

The evolutionary history is actually quite difficult to accurately document, due to the fact that the bones of the hummingbird are hollow and quite fragile which makes fossilization of the bones extremely difficult. Scientist have theorized many things though. They believe that the hummingbird originated in South America, because this is where there is the greatest amount of diversity among the various species of hummingbirds. Also, scientist believe that possible ancestors of hummingbird species still in existence today may have lived in Europe all the way to what is today known as southern Russia.

In 2004, two 30-million year old hummingbird fossils were identified by Dr. Gerald Mayr, who had his results published in Nature. The remains had been in a drawer of a musemum in Stuttgart, Germany and no one knew what they were until Dr. Mayr took a look at them. The reason no one had identified them properly is because people assumed that hummingbirds never occurred outside the Americas. While hummingbirds may only be found in the Americas today, apparently this was not always the case.

Hummingbirds are such truly fascinating creatures and they never cease to amaze me. Discovering a bit about the hummingbird’s evolutionary history has been no different. I hope you have also enjoyed making this discovery as well. Are you, like me, amazed to discover that two hummingbird fossils are known to be 30-million years old?

Categories
Hummingbirds

Green-throated Carib Hummingbird Facts

  • The Green-throated Carib Hummingbird is found to be most abundant in number at low elivations.
  • The Green-throated Carib Hummingbird can be seen in the Lesser Antillies, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
  • The sexes of this species of hummingbird are alike.
  • This species of hummingbird occurs in a wide range of habitats including: semi-deciduous woodlands, wet forest, and second growth.
Categories
Dear Mom

Bahama Woodstar Hummingbird

When I think of the Bahamas, sun sand and vacation come to mind but not hummingbirds.  I just discovered that there is indeed a species of hummingbird found there.  It is known as the Bahama Woodstar and it is a commonly seen in Nassau.  Here is some information which will help you identify this hummingbird if you are ever lucky enough to see one for yourself.

The male Bahama Woodstar hummingbird is mostly green in color.  They are known to have a deeply forked tail that is colored black and rufous, with their gorget being a rddish violet color and their chest being white in color and the posterior underparts being refuscent.

The female of this species differs from the male of this species because they have rounded tails and both the throat and chest are white.

Are you, like me, surprised to discover that there is a species of hummingbird found in the Bahamas?  I feel that my mom would have enjoyed discovering this fact also.  If you are ever in the Bahamas, maybe you will have the good fortune to see this particular species of hummingbird for yourself.  

Categories
Dear Mom

Why is Red Attractive to Hummingbirds?

If you have ever watched a hummingbird before for any length of time, you are probably aware that red is a color known to attract hummingbirds.  While red is far from the only color which will attact the hummingbirds, there seems to be something that draws these birds to red quite  strongly.  Have you ever wondered just why this seems to occur.  Well, if you are like my mom and so many others, I am sure you have wondered about this but did not have any explainations for this occurance.  Well, the wait is now over, because this post will offer some possible explainations as to why hummingbirds are so drawn to the color red.

The Hummingbird Society offers the following as possible reasons why hummingbirds seem to find the color red so very attractive.  One possible explaination is that, during migration, red blooms are far more easily seen against all the other green of the environment then flowers of other colors. Another possible explaination may be due to the fact that insects also have the ability to see nectar, thus making them a competator with the hummingbird for the food source.  Most insects do not have the ability to see well at the red end of the color spectrum, so this gives the hummingbird the advantage of not having to compete for this food source with the insects.  Also, a red bloom may appear nearly black and therefore unattractive to some insects, so it is far less likely that the insect has taken nectar from a red flower.

I hope that you now have a better understanding of what makes the color red so very attractive to hummingbirds.