Category: Hummingbirds

Have you ever wondered about the strength or power of the hummingbird’s vision?  If so, then the information in this post will provide you with the information you seek and it may even serve to inform you as well.  

It is believed that a hummingbird can see your feeder from approximately 3/4 of a mile way.  Isn’t that amazing?  The reason for this is because hummingbirds are believed to have 8X binocular vision.   

It may also surprise you to discover that the vision of a hummingbird is better then that of a human.  A hummingbird has the ability to see into the ultraviolet range, can see at a far greater distance, and the hummingbird’s vision allows them to react to things more quickly then we as humans can. 

So, what do you think?  Does what you have discovered make you wish that you yourself had better vision? 

• The adult male Bee Hummingbird weighs only 1.95 grams.  Are you wondering just how small that is in reality?  Well, it is less then the weight of two paper clips!  Talk about not weighing very much at all.
• The nest of the Bee Hummingbird only measures 3 cm across.  This is smaller then the nest of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird which in comparison is twice in diameter that of the Bee Hummingbird.
• The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest of all the hummingbird species and it is also among the smallest of all the worm-blooded vertebrates.

After the nestlings are born it is the female who is responsible for the care and rearing of the young.  Have you ever wondered how long this whole process takes?  Well, by human standards it only takes a slit second versus the 18 -21 years of age for your child to reach adulthood.  The nestlings will leave the nest after only 21 days.  I don’t know about you, but to me that doesn’t seem like enough time to prepare the young how to face all the challenges of survival.  This must be nature’s way to trying to ensure that the various species of hummingbirds will continue well into the future.

The migration of a hummingbird can be quite lengthy.  The exact length of this journey will depend on which specific  species of hummingbird to which you are referring.  The Rufous Hummingbird is the hummingbird with the longest migratory journey, a whopping 3000 miles in length from Alaska to Mexico.  The Ruby-throated Hummingbird’s journey is 500 miles non-stop each way across the Gulf of Mexico.  Isn’t it amazing how birds so small can make and survive a journey of such length?

A hummingbird will eat for the first time that day about a half hour before the sun comes up.  The hummingbird will stop eating every day about a half hour after it is dark.  It may surprise you to discover that a hummingbird will eat 25% of its daily food intake within the first hour of awakening.  The hummingbird will also intake large amounts of food just before going to sleep to help ensure that they don’t starve to death before morning, which can occur in as little as two hours.