![]() ![]() After mating, the male leaves the female to build the nest, incubate the eggs, and care for the young by herself. After impressing his lady love with an elaborate aerial courtship display, the male leads her to his territory and the two mate. ![]() You can often see males engaged in fierce aerial combat, chasing and bumping into each other, even using their long bills like swords. The males each establish a territory which they aggressively defend from all intruders. In Pennsylvania, the male hummingbirds arrive first between late April and early May. While nectar is high in sugar and carbohydrates, hummingbirds get the protein they need from eating small insects, caterpillars, insect eggs, and spiders. The bird’s tongue flicks in and out at nearly 20 times a second. They lap up the nectar like a kitty lapping up milk. They have long, thin tongues split at the end, with fringed grooves. The birds do not suck up the nectar through their long bills like sipping through a straw. We usually see these tiny birds sipping nectar from flowers. Body temperature drops, heartbeat and respiration slow, and metabolism slows by 90%. To match the hummingbird’s metabolism, the average human would have to eat 360 pounds of potatoes or 1,440 hamburgers or drink 440 cans of Coke daily! At night, to conserve energy and to keep from starving, hummingbirds enter a state of torpor which is something like hibernation. Hummingbirds eat two to three times their body weight every day, feeding on average every 20 minutes. In contrast to the human heart which beats an average of 80 times a minute, a hummingbird’s heart beats about 20 times a second or 500-1200 times a minute-250 times a minute when the bird is resting. During flight, their wings beat 53 to 80 times a second, making that distinctive humming sound. They can fly backwards, sideways, up and down, upside down, and hover in one spot-flying at speeds from 4-60 mph. Both males and females have bronze green backs, pale bellies, and long bills. Named for the male’s bright red bib, called a gorget, adult Ruby Throated Hummingbirds are about three inches in length and weigh 1/10 of an ounce, about the weight of a penny. There are 388 species of hummingbirds found in North, Central, and South America, but only one is found in Pennsylvania-the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Like aerial acrobats, hummingbirds dart through our summer gardens-their iridescent colors flashing like jewels. Submitted by Pam Varga, Sahli Park Manager ![]()
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