- Hummingbirds flap their wings between 50 and 70 times a second!
- Hummingbirds cannot become addicted to the nectar you put out in your feeder. They will leave the feeders when they need to.
- Hummingbirds eat both nectar and the small insects found near the nectar.
- Although male hummers are more colorful than female hummers, female hummingbirds are relatively colorful.
- Hummingbirds have split tongues, which they fold into a tube when feeding.
- Normal flight speed for a hummingbird is 25 to 30 mph, but hummers can dive at speeds of up to 60 mph.
- It takes hummingbird eggs two to 2 1/2 weeks to hatch.
- Hummingbird eggs are so small that a penny would completely cover three of them. The usual brood, however, is two eggs.
- Hummingbird nests average about 1-1/2 inches in outside diameter. A penny will almost fill the inside diameter.
- Only ten species of hummers have significant ranges north of Mexico. Only the ruby-throated hummingbird ranges east of the Mississippi.
- In the eighteenth century, when Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus devised the scientific classification system still in use today (kingdom, phylum, class, order and family) hummingbirds were assigned their own family: Trochilidae, from the Greek trochilos, meaning small bird.
- When early Spanish explorers encountered hummingbirds they called them Joyas voladoras, flying jewels.
- Hummingbirds are native to South America.
- Adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are 15-20% larger than adult males.
- The only bird that can fly backwards is the Hummingbird.
- A hummingbird's heart beats 615 beats in a minute.
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