Hummingbirds For Mom

Archive for August, 2008

If you are like most people, one of the many things you admire most about the hummingbird is its amazing ability to hover.  These tiny birds never cease to amaze us with their ability to do so for such long periods of time.  As a result, I know that my mom would have been interested in this post and I hope you will be also.

Hummingbirds have the ability to hover better than any other species of bird due to the unusual structure of their wings.  They have the ability to do so because their wings are permmanently fixed and rigid, except at the shoulder joint, which allows the wing to move freely in all directions.

When hovering, a hummingbird’s wing moves forward, and then the leading edge rotates nearly 180 degrees and moves back again.  This wing movement causes the tips of the wings to trace a horzontal figure eight in the air.

This video is about humming banding efforts.  This video shows banding being done along the San Pedro River.  It is my hope that this brief video will help you understand why banding efforts are so important and also why they are so difficult to accomplish.

Have you ever wondered how many species of hummingbirds exist?  The exact answer to this question will depend on which  reference source you consult, but I have read that there are between 330-340 different species of hummingbirds found in the world. In the United States there are 17 different species of hummingbirds found here.  That number represents 5 percent of the hummingbird population.   Costa Rica has 55 different species of hummingbirds. These numbers may change depending on whether or not the species is facing extenction or if a new species of hummingbird should be discovered in the future.  Lastly, it may suprise you to discover that are absolutely no species of hummingbirds found in Hawaii.