BIRD TALK: THE ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD

By Greg Dunne
                                                
August 8, 2012 (Lake Jennings)--I am going to make an assumption here, but I believe that the Hummingbird is everyone’s favorite backyard bird.

Although there have been sightings of 10 different species of Hummingbirds in San Diego County, our resident Hummingbirds are the Black-chinned Hummingbird, Costa’s Hummingbird, and, probably the most commonly seen Hummingbird here in the East County, Anna’s Hummingbird. The Hummingbirds’ range is strictly throughout North and South America. They fascinated the first Europeans to arrive on the continent. Christopher Columbus wrote about them and many wondered if they were a cross between a bird and an insect – at one point being called “flybirds”. Later, their feathers became fashionable ornaments in Europe (a practice that has thankfully fallen out of favor).

The Anna’s Hummingbird may be a common Hummingbird but they are anything but common in appearance and behavior. It has a long slender straight bill with beautiful iridescent emerald feathers and sparkling rose-pink throat in addition to a magnificent red head. It is like a tiny jewel darting and diving about with terrific speed. A medium size Hummingbird is three to four inches long and weighs slightly over 4 grams; if it were to tuck in its tail feathers and head it would be about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Hummingbirds are unique in so many ways in the animal kingdom. However, the one thing that stands out for me is their incredible metabolism. Hummingbirds, with their tiny bodies and extremely high levels of activity, have the highest metabolic rate of any bird or animal in the world (although one species of shrew is thought to have a metabolic rate as high as or higher than a hummingbird). The Hummingbird has to lower its metabolic rate at night and in cold weather. Each night and in severe cold weather the Hummingbird is only hours away from death. This adaptation is rare in birds but has evolved in this way for it’s survival.

They feed mostly on nectar and insects and have to eat their own weight in nectar daily; during migration, this figure can increase exponentially. Hummingbirds consume 3 to 7 calories a day. A comparison with how many calories we humans would have to take in daily if our metabolism was as high as the hummingbird may help put this in perspective. Humans would have to take in appoxamitly 155,000 calories a day if we had the metabolism of the Anna’s Hummingbird! Moreover, no weight gain with that 155,000-calorie intake!

A lot of research has gone into the feeding habits of Hummingbirds. Here is a tip for your backyard Hummingbird feeder. They are able to assess the amount of nectar (or sugar) they take in at a feeding. Therefore, starting your feeder with a relatively high solution at a 1:1 ratio, equal volumes of sugar and water, for a week or two will attract them to your feeder. However, they will not feed at the feeder as often as they might because they know the amount of food they need to take in. After a couple of weeks change the solution to a more moderate mixture of one part sugar with three or four parts water, a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio. The birds will already be attracted to the feeder and will feed more often with the concentration at a more moderate level. If you are fortunate enough to get many Hummingbirds feeding at your feeders and they are being admired by you friends you can impress them with a couple of facts. Hummingbirds can beat their wings up to 80 times a second during normal flight and up to 200 times a per second during a courtship dive. Another I like to tell, the collective noun for the group of Hummingbirds is a “Charm of Hummingbirds.”