Category: Dear Mom

A friend and I were recently talking about the very high temperatures and humidity that we commonly experience during the “dog days” of summer here in southeast Texas. We both remarked about how we hate this because it causes us to sweat a great deal. Each of us commented how the high heat and humidity is hard for us to stand and then our discussion turned to how the summer must be rough physically on a birds’ body and may even endanger its life.

My friend is well aware that I am a hummingbird enthusiast and as a result have a great deal of knowledge on the subject of hummingbirds. This provided me the perfect opportunity to share with my friend that birds do not sweat. This was an amazing fact to her and she wanted to know more about this issue.

Because birds do not sweat, excess heat is removed through the bird’s respiratory system. An extremely high body temperature may result in the bird’s respiratory rate increasing and this can sometimes result in the bird panting like a dog and this will result in the bird becoming dehydrated. If this occurs, a reliable source of water is necessary to ensure that the bird can replenish lost fluids.

Whenever I discover new interesting information about hummingbirds, I always look forward to sharing it with others, especially the readers of this blog. Those who know me are well aware of my love of hummingbirds and therefore they are usually interested in what my latest discovery on the subject of hummingbirds has been. This topic hopefully will be no different so I can share this knowledge further with others.

This is also the kind of information my mom would have enjoyed knowing as well and therefore as I write this post I cannot help but have thoughts of her running through my mind. Thanks mom for the love of hummingbirds that we shared! It continues to live and thrive within me and it is my passion to pass my knowledge of hummingbirds along to all who are interested.

Have you ever wondered how a hummingbird spends its time during the day? What you will discover from reading this post will quite possibly surprise or even shock you. When I first read this information myself, I was initially in a state of disbelief, but upon doing further research I found that other sources seemed to support this information.

This is the type of unique information about hummingbirds that my mom certainly would have enjoyed discovering. Since my mom is no longer living, I thought that I would share it will all of my readers who want to know more about hummingbirds. Hope you enjoy the information.

Contrary to popular belief, hummingbirds do not spend the majority of their time flying. In fact, hummingbirds only spend an average of 10-15% of their time feeding and 75-80% sitting and digesting. As for the remaining percentage, it was not known how that was used by the hummingbirds.

You should now have a better understanding of how the hummingbird spends its time during the day. Did this come as a surprise to you?

On this Father’s Day 2010, I wish to offer Happy Father’s Day wishes to all the fathers out there. I hope that each of you had a very special day with your family. A father is someone who usually has a very big impact on the lives of his children. This got me to thinking; can the same be said in the world of nature? In some instances, it can be found to be true, but not as it relates to hummingbirds. Let me explain further.

It may surprise you to discover this, but male and female hummingbirds do not form a pair bond, and the males and females remain together only for courtship and mating. Once the act of mating has taken place, the male hummingbird no longer bares any further responsibilities toward reproduction. As a result, it is the female hummingbird that therefore bares the sole responsibility for building the nests and caring for the young birds once they are born.

Since my own father has played such a huge role in my own life, it saddens me to know that this is not true of the male hummingbird. The male hummingbird will miss out on the opportunity to impact or influence its offspring. Thus the male is free to mate again quickly and this must be nature’s own way of ensuring that the hummingbird population will be maintained.

Regardless of how things work with regard to the male hummingbird, I am truly thankful myself to have been blessed with such a wonderful father. I hope you know this and how very much I love you.

Once again, Happy Father’s Day 2010 to all the fathers out there!