by Jack Spaulding
Outdoors WriterI consider the hummingbird to be one of God’s most fascinating creatures. The smallest of birds, it is delicate as a flower, fast as a fighter pilot and absolutely fearless. Hummingbirds will defend their territory and their sovereign control over the sugar water feeder with utter diligence, and chase away any strange hummingbirds coming to feed.
In small numbers, the hummingbird does not play well with others. But, when there is a large number of hummers feeding in one location, tensions ease and the aerial acrobatics and squabbling for control of the feeder becomes less evident.
The first time I experienced hummingbirds in significant numbers was in the early 1980s in Moscow, Ind. Wendell and Mary Hester remodeled and lived in the old Moscow school house, and two of Mary’s favorite things were flowers and hummingbirds.
From Mary’s elevated porch, I could see hummingbirds clouding the feeders and perching everywhere on the small bushes around the deck. Mary became my hummingbird mentor. At first I thought I was seeing more than one kind of hummingbird until Mary pointed out the difference was the coloration between female and male.
The males were slightly darker and displayed the bright red band around the throat, while the females were a slightly lighter color and displayed more white in the belly area.
When Mary filled the feeders, the tiny birds would hover around her like a flock of anxious, over-size mosquitoes. Mary sternly instructed me when feeding hummingbirds to boil four parts water and one part sugar, then, cool the mixture before filling the feeder. Back in the day, Mary was truly the queen of hummingbirds in Rush County.
Indiana’s only native hummingbird is the ruby-throated hummingbird, Archilochus colubris. The species predominate range is from the northern two-thirds of Florida and west to eastern Texas north to the lower reaches of Alberta, Canada.
The ruby-throated migration each year is truly a testament to the bird’s physical capabilities. The species normally winters in Central America and may fly up to 4,000 miles to reach its winter territory. When the ruby-throateds make their biannual trip, they may migrate through Texas, Cuba and Florida, but some apparently take the most direct route and fly across the Gulf of Mexico! Quite an accomplishment for a bird only 3.5 inches long and weighing a mere eighth of an ounce.
An old myth about the hummingbird’s migration is they “hitch a ride” on geese flying south for the winter. Sorry folks … just another over-active imagination of one of our ancestors. Besides, wild geese leave later and fly to a different part of the country.
Hummingbirds are apparently very smart as they have the largest brain relative to size of all of the birds. The little “Einsteins” of the sky have a brain mass slightly more than 4 percent of their total body weight. They also have the largest heart proportionally of any living animal at 1.75 percent to 2.5 percent of body weight.
The hummingbird’s heart rate at rest is approximately 480 beats per minute and can go as high as 1,280 beats per minute in times of high activity. They breathe an unbelievable 250 times a minute even when at rest.
All of the high energy output is supported by a metabolism putting even the hungriest teenager to shame. When feeding on various dilutions of sugar water, the birds can consume from 5.4 times their body weight per day to 14 times their body weight per day!
As fall advances, we need to keep our hummingbird feeders filled and available for any stragglers. The old wives’ tale claiming if you left the feeders out, the birds would freeze to death is not true. What is true … there can be late running migrating birds badly in need of food. For them, a hearty meal at a waiting feeder can be the difference between life and death. Keep the feeders up until at least the second or third week of October.
Some of the late running birds run into cold temperatures and they adapt to the rigors of a cold night by going into a state or torpor. Torpor can be described as a very short term, overnight hibernation as the bird undergoes a rapid lowering of the metabolism to conserve energy. The bird’s pulse drops, breathing slows and the bird becomes stiff and lethargic. With sunshine and the warmth of the coming day, the bird regenerates its metabolism and returns to traveling.
In June 2008, Moscow lost most of the local hummingbirds when an F-3 tornado tore through the community and destroyed most of the trees and devastated the landscape. The tornado even took down the old school building where Mary and Wendell lived years ago, and the storm took the town’s hummingbirds as well. Throughout the summer, only rarely would we see a traveling hummer at the feeder. Last year in 2009, we were graced with just a few stragglers here in town.
But, this year is different. We only have two pairs of hummers working on our feeders, but the real treat in town is at our friends’ house. Jack and Linda Baker’s yard is alive with hummingbirds. They live across the street from what was once the old school house home of Mary and Wendell.
The tiny birds flock around their feeders and perch in the shrubs like tiny Christmas tree ornaments. Some days, Jack and Linda have to fill the feeders more than once just to keep the crowd of hummingbirds fed. Apparently several nesting pairs of hummingbirds raised large families this year and the air traffic at the Bakers’ feeders is hectic from dawn to dusk.
My wife, Chris, and I spent an evening last week visiting with Jack and Linda. While sitting on the Bakers’ porch watching the hoards of hummingbirds, I looked across the street where the old school building once stood. I couldn’t help but think how much Mary and Wendell would approve.
till next time,
Jack Spaulding is a state outdoors writer and a consumer of RushShelby Energy from Milroy. Readers with questions or comments can write to him in care of Electric Consumer, P.O. Box 24517, Indianapolis, IN 46224; or e-mail jackspaulding@hughes.net.Male ruby-throated hummingbird photo ©Jupiterimages Corporation