Torpor - great lesson. I live in Southern Arizona. Where do hummingbirds "sleep" at night? Are they loners or do the roost in groups? How do they stay hidden from preditors? Thanks for any answers. Loving this course!    

I've been vaguely aware of the details about hummingbird lives and habits, based on what I know about the only hummingbird east of the rockies, the Ruby-throated.  So, learning more detail has been very exciting for me.  Tongue morphology and how hummingbirds eat is at the top of my list of new information.  When I watch my "Rubies" at the nectar feeder or hovering around my Northern Cardinal flowers, I'll be thinking of that little tongue splitting as it dips its tip in the nectar!  And I realize how evolution connects all animals on the family tree.  The hummingbird's tiny arm bones are identical to humans, is such a great example.

This section was fascinating! The anatomy of the hummingbird’s wing being different from other birds was so interesting. I never knew that was the reason for their very different flight pattern and ability to hover for so long. Cool! Also, the size of the flight muscles was amazing. I will definitely watch these little beauties with a more knowledgeable and interested eye!

This section has been amazing.  I have learned so much already from this course.  I did not realize there were so many structural differences to hummingbird wings and muscles that help them hover and fly.  I love how you have included diagrams as well as the descriptions to explain flight and also to explain how their tongues work.  I am amazed that the tongue wraps around the back of the head, and now will have a whole new respect for the process when hummingbirds return to my feeders next spring. In regards to torpor, do other bird species use this strategy at night to survive?  Particularly those that return to the north in the early spring or stay all winter.  If so, which species use this adaptation?

I learned a lot in this section and I enjoyed it very much. I came away the following and some questions: 1) The use of Topor surprised me that hummingbirds 'hibernate' everyday. One question I had was in clarification.  Dr. Shanka mentioned that in sleep they can ruffle feathers, respond to outside stimuli; but in Torpor, they cannot do this until their body shuts down. My question is: do hummingbirds sleep and go into torpor? And how do they choose when to sleep and when to torpor? 2. The concepts of Lift, Thrust, and Drag have been hard for me to grasp, so I was grateful for the review and the great definitions. I feel a bit more confident in considering and talking about these topics 3. This is OBSCURE but I spent a good deal of time thinking about this. Regarding the differences in bill shape (sexually dimorphic) if the Purple-throated Carib does this mean:  The males feed the male chicks and the females feed the female chicks?  Do the males teach the male chicks which flowers to sip from and the females the female chicks? This little nugget of information got me going for a couple of days. 4. Finally, I really enjoyed learning about how they sip nectar by extending and extracting their very complex tongues. I guess, if I had been asked about hummingbird tongues - I would have guessed that they were very much like woodpecker tongues. Overall, what has been great about this course so far is that I am learning about things I never considered before. It's fun.

I was really surprised how hummingbird’s flight muscles are so big proportionally in comparison to other birds to keep them hovering. And hummingbirds’ tongues remind me more of those of bees or butterflies than other birds, and their majority nectar diet probably has something to do with that. Just amazing creatures :-)

I’m thoroughly enjoying all the courses I’ve taken and I’m completely hooked. We live next to a golf course with a lovely 3 mile walkway next to a river which is also a natural habitat for squirrels, skunks, raccoons, and many species of birds including hummingbirds and woodpeckers. I’ve always wondered what they eat when the few flowering plants are not blooming. Now I know! Also, I knew they somehow ate insects but didn’t see how that was done. So fascinating. Thank you!

So many things to learn. I knew of torpor but did not know they use that state every night!  Interesting to learn how the wing structures are adapted (long hand bone) for hovering.  High body temps and high energy requirement. Wow.  300 bags of potatoe chips is a lot of calories. Got a chuckle out of that. Great info in this course.

I'm finding these little birds to be both fascinating and terrifying when compared to other bird species. I had no idea they had so many unique adaptions for survival - from their forked tongues, their wing structure, and the way they use torpor as a means to rest since they will quite literally die in hours if they're not feeding. I'm in love with the pufflegs, because the only thing as cute as birds with hats is birds with pants.

This course is really opening my eyes to the diversity of hummingbirds! It's been fun to see differences I never knew about. I thought the Olivaceous Thornbill from one of the videos was really cool! I never would have predicted a hummingbird to be moving around the ground like that. I also thought it was interesting to see sexual dimorphism in the bill shape of at least one of the hummingbird species. I think it'd be interesting to consider why this would happen.

The tongue’s placement in the head is something I never imagined, although that long tongue has to go somewhere. I didn’t know they ate insects. Something not mentioned here (or yet) is that hummingbirds pant when it is extremely hot. I noticed that this summer when we had a spell of days over 100 degrees. I had to look that up because it looks so odd, I thought they were dying.

I was surprised to learn that hummingbird wing anatomy is quite different from other birds’ with long hand bones and shorter forearm bones. And I had no idea about the tubular/split tongues!

This course has been fascinating, and I have learned so much.  The fact that the tongue of the hummingbird is so long that it wraps around the inside of the head is amazing.  I have hummingbird feeders here in Massachusetts, and all I see here are Ruby-throated but they are so fun to watch and observe. They are right outside my windows so if you sit still so you don't startle them, you can see their tongues out while they are hovering.

I look forward to traveling west and enjoying other varieties of hummingbirds We get ruby throated hummingbirds here in Michigan I appreciated the information about the hummingbirds need for insects in diet for protein Also the type of flowers that provide nectar I would like more information about torpor and how our feeding schedules can be helpful Thank you for the excellent video presentations

Two things surprised me Their tongues are amazing!  The way it gathers up the nectar, and especially how the bill then squeezes the nectar from the tongue and into its mouth while the bird is extending the tongue, again.  That was a "whoa!" moment! And torpor.  I knew about it, but to imagine how cold this little bird must become, every night.  Certainly a dangerous but essential time for them.

Amazing stuff! I wonder if the torpor is also an adaptation that allows them to avoid heat-sensing predators like snakes while they are so vulnerable at night!

I was not aware of how hummingbird’s tongues function to “sip” nectar. I will be boring all my friends with descriptions of hummingbirds I learned in these lessons.

It was interesting to learn how their tongues work. Also, I didn’t realize that the nightly torpor was because they can’t eat at night, and if the don’t eat, they die. The wing structure was also interesting and how they hover.

I didn't know about the nightly torpor; thought that was only in winter. It makes sense, however, since they don't feed at night. I'm glad to see the myth of hummingbirds riding on the backs of other birds to be debunked. However, there was a lack of information or discussion on the sounds they make. I have heard some unusual sounds.

I didn't realize that hummingbirds actually eat  some small bugs and spiders to add protein to their diets, or that they worked with sapsucker woodpeckers to gain some of their food.

I’m very impressed with torpor and curious about the physiological cues that get the bird in and out again from this state.

I knew hummingbirds had a fast metabolism, but I was struck by Dr. Shankar’s example: A person with the same metabolic rate as a hummingbird would have to eat 300 packets of potato chips a day to sustain their energy. It gave me a new appreciation for how hard hummers have to work to find enough food.

I didn't know that some think that they hitch rides while migrating. The bone structure, muscle, and difference in attachment to wing bones was enlightening.

I found the information about the anatomy of hummingbirds muscles for flight interesting.

I am fascinated by the twisting wing motion that produces lift on upward, as well as downward strokes. I was also surprised to learn about the dimorphic bills in the Carib hummingbirds.