I LOVE ALL HUMMIES!

I am always amazed to see this tiny little creature. No wonder some people say that the humming birds are the flying jewels.
Just watch -The cute little size, dazzling colors, the beat of those wings will make any one awestruck. But the other hand it is really painful to feel that I am missing all those finest feelings  now days as these kindling sights are disappearing in  todays  world - The world of noise, pollution, and radiation. We are surrounded by nothing but invisible wireless waves that have started destroying these kinds of birds.  I am afraid whether I can even show a real sparrow to my child.

When I wanted to know more about them I came to know some interesting facts which I would like to share.

• Hummingbird is the smallest bird and also the smallest of all animals that have a backbone,are the second largest family of birds with 343 species.
• Hummingbirds are on average 8.5 centimeters long from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail. A hummingbird can weigh anywhere between 2 and 20 grams, sometimes lesser than a penny.
• Hummingbirds can flash their bright colors, as well as hide them when needed. The bright radiant color on hummingbirds comes from iridescent coloring like on a soap bubble or prism. A Gorget is the bright flashing colored feathers of the hummingbird's neck.
• Hummingbirds can hear better than humans ,can see farther than humans, can see ultraviolet light.
• Hummingbirds have very weak feet, cannot walk easily and use them mainly just for perching.
• Hummingbird can rotate its wings in a circle, they are the only bird that can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways and  hover in mid air. Hummingbirds can beat their wings up to 80 times a second during normal flight and up to 200 times per second during a courtship dive. During migration, some hummingbirds make a non-stop 500 mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico. Some hummingbirds will travel over two-thousand (2,000) miles twice a year during migration times. Hummingbirds get their name from the humming sound produced by their wings when flying & 30% of a hummingbird's weight consists of flight muscles.
• Hummingbird’s metabolism is roughly 100 times that of an elephant. To conserve energy while they sleep or when food is scarce, they can go into a hibernation-like state (torpor) where their metabolic rate is slowed to 1/15th of its normal rate.
• Hummingbird's brain is 4.2% of its body weight, the largest proportion in the bird kingdom. Humming birds are very smart and they can remember every flower they have been to, and how long it will take a flower to refill.
• Hummingbird's heart is 2.5% of the total body weight , beats up to 1,260 times per minute, 250 times per minute at rest.  A hummingbird will take about 250 breaths per minute while at rest.
• Hummingbirds have no sense of smell. Their tongue is grooved like the shape of a "W", do not drink though their beaks like a straw. They lap up nectar with their tongues and the bottom beak is slightly flexible.
• Hummingbirds have an average life span of about 5 years, can live for more than 10 years and unfortunately most hummingbirds die in the first year of life.
• Hummingbird’s favorite color is red, like tubular type flowers the most and many plants depend on hummingbirds for pollination.
• It’s HOT! The hummingbird's body temperature is about 107 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).