-
I didn’t know that hummingbirds could cool down their bodies so low to be in torpor.
-
All of the Lesson was interesting: What was surprising was how huge the supracoracoideus and pectoral muscles are in Hummingbirds in comparison to other bird species. It was also interesting about the bone structure in which the Hummingbird hand bones are significantly longer than other bird species. Bottom line: it seems the tiny Hummingbird is all muscle for specialized flight. What is also interesting is the Hummingbird tongue is so long that the base wraps around the back of the skull and over the top of the eye. The description of the split featherlike tongue was amazing. Also, hummers can pick off insects and Spiders from spiderweb. I had thought that hummers were strictly nectar feeders.
-
Again another great set of lessons here, but I think the animation of how hummingbirds fly was just so informative and spectacular. Again, I knew the concept but watching it slowed down and explained through animations was very helpful just as the animations about iridescence were. It's incredible to think about how these birds regularly eat their own body weight in nectar each day and can slow their bodies down in deep torpor. It makes you appreciate the abilities that other beings have that far exceed our own.
-
I was surprised to learn that some hummingbirds will occasionally pierce the sides of flowers to get to the nectar. I was even more surprised to learn that some species, particularly dagger-bills, specialize in this feeding technique. I suppose I just never imagined that nectar robbing was a technique hummingbirds even could use, but it makes sense now that I think about it. Some tubular flowers are so long that many hummingbird species couldn't get to it any other way. Now that I know about it, I'll have to keep an eye out for nectar robbing hummingbirds so that I can see this technique in action.
-
I see only Anna's hummingbirds in my garden and feeders. I have seen "nectar robbing" at the abutilon flowers. I didn't realize that this was a known behavior. The video regarding torpor was very interesting, particularly the thermal images. I have always wondered if the hummingbirds rest at night in a specific tree or bush, or if it is random depending on their location when night falls.
-
I find Torpor fascinating! It's so good to understand this state that the Hummingbirds go into should I ever, by some strange chance, stumble upon one in it. I didn't know that they like spiders and other lil insects, how cool!
-
I was surprised to learn that hummingbirds eat insects and spiders. I knew they use spiderwebs to make their nests, but I never thought that they would eat the spiders, too. I suppose they just never struck me as the kind of bird that would eat a spider - probably because they're so cute. Nature never ceases to surprise me.
-
@Sarah Someone commented in a previous post that she disentangled a hummer caught up in a spider's web!
-
-
I watched a ruby throated female construct her nest this spring. She finally seemed to be happy with it after a week of being finicky about licken addition, shape, lots of feet stamping. Finally I thought she had laid her eggs and was nesting when we had a cold snap. She sat on her nest all day leaving only briefly and then returning, but the as dusk neared she flew to a feeder I had placed just for her, took a sip and flew away. I never saw her again, although the nest still sits abandoned in the tree. I assume that she knew she couldn't save herself and her eggs by torpor. Hopefully she was able to save herself.
-
I was surprised about the energy saving methods during the night. Really an amazing feature, as well as the tongue capabilities!
-
I was shocked by how long their tongue is, but it definitely makes sense!
-
I was surprised with the depth of information about tongue structure.
-
The most startling to me was the way the tongue is designed and functions.
-
I was surprised to learn how long the tongue of a hummingbird is in relation to the beak. I knew they had long beaks but was surprised to see the visuals that show how the tongue works and the length as well as how it is positioned inside the head of the hummingbird. That was fascinating.
-
I wasn't aware that hummingbirds use torpor every night to conserve energy, but it makes total sense. I suppose that means hummingbirds benefit from these hot, hot days that don't cool off much at night - not as much body temperature change needed to conserve energy. I was also surprised to learn about how the arm structure of hummingbirds differs from that of other birds. Fascinating.
-
I knew Hummingbirds practiced torpor but I had no idea they spent 75% of day perching. When I walk I sometimes see the perched.
-
The structure of the wings are so different from other birds and how their tongues work! I also didn't know they perched so much of the time. I have sugar water and flowers for them in the backyard but from my office window in the front of the house I see them come by the flowerless shrubs and suspect they are going after bugs.
-
The way that they retract their tongues to wrap around the inside of their skulls was amazing. A month ago, I would have been surprised to learn that they do eat meats like insects and spiders, but I recently saw a ruby-throated hummingbird go to a suet feeder that is hanging in a tree in our backyard.
-
I was keen to know about hummingbird migration. I've been lucky to see some hummers in the state of Oaxaca Mexico feeding on banana flowers in November, but I didn't know if they were the same birds I saw in the summer at home. The migration maps were great!
-
I learned the hummingbirds have shortened legs, which I never picked up on from looking at them before. And their shortened arm bones are what enable them to do those amazing aerial stunts like hovering and back flight. Wondering if both those shortening traits are a result of the same DNA mutation in a developmental stage that shortens both the wing bones and the leg bones?
-
These little guys are incredible from a distance - speed, flight, beauty etc - but “close up” they are simply magical, other-worldly. The things they do that we don’t see or appreciate elevate them to a different level - the iridescence, the figure of 8 wing motion, the torpor, the forked tongue that works like an eye-dropper and is then stored around the brain etc. Wonderful - literally.
-
i never new that humminbirds spend 75%0f the the day perched in a tree i love all the colours of the hummingbirds and my favorite family of hummingbirds are the coquettes and i love this course
-
I was not aware of how complicated their lives are! They are more than just a beautiful little bird! The explanation of their irridescence was explained very clearly. I understand human vision better as well as a restult of that lesson.
-
I really love the fact that this course goes far beyond the amazing glamour and glitter of these beautiful creatures. Whether it is the specialized wing structure that allows the unique flying style, the beak and tongue, the high concentration of mitochondria in flight muscles, or the torpor, they are even more amazing than their already unique looks might suggest. Great job!
-
There is so much great information in this lesson. The structure of the wing was surprising to me, although it only makes sense that their wings would be structurally different from other birds. I have read about hummers at high elevation in the Andes lowering their body temperature, but I didn't know that other species also lower their temperatures, although perhaps not as much. I have never read about the structure of the tongue and the mechanism that squeezes out the nectar that's collected.
-
I was not aware that hummingbirds go into torpor, and was under the impression that Hummingbirds needed to stay flying most of the day to consume all the nectar they needed to survive. I knew Hummingbirds consumed a lot of nectar over the course of the day, and that they had incredibly high metabolic rates, to accommodate their incredibly fast wing speeds. I was also not aware that certain species of hummingbirds consumed spiders. This was a surprise because I thought that a hummingbirds beak was like a straw or proboscis on an insect, and that it could not open wide at all.
-
I was totally surprised by the fact that a hummer's bill opened so wide. I knew they ate insects and spiders but hadn't given much thought to how they did this! Also I have noticed our Ruby-throated hummers coming to the corner of the house.....spiders webs are there, didn't think about the bird actually taking insects from the web.
-
The past few summers here in Missouri I've noticed hummingbirds hanging around the tall cyclone fence that surrounds a tennis court on the nearby college campus. At first I wondered if the fence was a barrier to the bird. Then I saw that bird seemed to be gleaning something from the wires of the fence. I wracked my brain trying to think of what it could be that attracted the hummers and finally noticed spider webs strung across the openings. I thought it was possible but unlikely that they were actually robbing the spider's pantry. Olwen's comment got me thinking. Then I watched the video "Hummingbirds are Just Like Other Birds," and about 2 minutes in a humming plucks a tiny spider from its web. So amazingly adaptable!
-
@Anne That sounds like a sight to see!
-
Read More: