Meet Mother Nature’s busiest bird.
Flitting from flower-to-flower at highway speeds, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds never stop to smell the roses – though they might slow down for a taste of Red Honeysuckle.
These pint-sized, high-speed fliers will be the topic of Mt. Cuba Center’s Hummingbird Weekend, a series of programs held Aug. 27 through Aug. 29 at the Hockessin horticultural haven.
Hummingbirds tend to fascinate people because they are so small, said Eileen Boyle Mt. Cuba’s public programs manager. Full-size adults are only three inches long.
“They weigh an eighth of an ounce, which is like a piece of mail,” said Boyle.
Tiny as they are, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds migrate from the eastern half of the United States to Central America, where they spend each winter before flying back to mate in the spring, she explained.
The swooping mating dance males perform is something to watch, she said, and the nests the females build from spider webs and lichens stretch as the young birds grow. Those baby hummingbirds hatch from eggs the size of Tic Tacs.
And despite their name, the birds don’t actually hum. That sound is made by their wings, which beat 50 to 75 times each second, Boyle said, and allow them to hover like helicopters or even fly backwards.
The birds do chirp, though, and it sounds a lot like a squeaking mouse, she said. Get a few going at once and it can be quite a racket.
Eating is serious business for hummingbirds, which must feed every 10 minutes or they dehydrate, Boyle said. They feast on insects and drink nectar, she said, making them important pollinators.
When hummingbirds sleep, they put their bodies into a semi-coma with a lower heart rate and temperature that lets them survive without such a steady stream of food.
Their habits may be fascinating, but what makes hummingbirds so much fun is their personalities, Boyle said. Adults will chase each other around a backyard, she said, and young birds fresh from the nest tend to knock into one another as they learn the finer points of flying.
“They are pretty amazing little creatures,” she said. “The more you know about them, the more you want to know.”
