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Defenders Magazine
Gallery: Winged Jewels
Flashing brilliant sparks of glittering light as they hover and dart among flowers, hummingbirds evoke a surreal magic. Ancient Mayans believed that they were the sun in disguise, and Aztecs believed that their most powerful god, Huitzilopochtli, sprang from a ball of brightly colored hummingbird feathers that fell from the sky.
But hummingbirds’ jeweled tones are an optical illusion. Their feathers are only two colors — reddish brown and black — but granules of the pigment melanin and microscopic air bubbles in the feathers refract light and create a metallic sheen. When light hits them at a certain angle, fleeting colors of the rainbow appear in intense shades of purple, red, blue and green.
Most hummingbirds are tiny. Cuba’s bee hummingbird — at two inches long and only 0.07 ounces — is the smallest bird in the world. The largest of the species is the giant hummingbird, which can reach more than 8 inches, but most species average around 3 to 4 inches long. Despite their size, hummingbirds are aggressive and will fiercely defend their territory from other species as well as other hummingbirds.
Named for the buzzing or humming sound they make when they fly, these tiny acrobats are known for their flying finesse. Hummingbirds’ wings rotate 180 degrees, alternating direction each time, which enables them to hover perfectly still or reach great speeds. The only bird that can fly backwards, they are also adept at flying sideways and upside down. They have the most rapid wing beats of any bird — up to 80 times per second while flying or hovering and twice that during a dive. They reach flying speeds of 30 miles an hour and are capable of 60-mile-per-hour dives.
Hummingbirds have the greatest relative energy output of any warm-blooded animal, and such intense activity by such small creatures requires almost continuous feeding. They eat up to one and a half times their body weight daily, most often in the form of flower nectar, although they also eat insects. Their heart rates drop dramatically during sleep to retain energy until their next meal.
The 300-plus species of hummingbirds, about 12 of which are regularly seen in the United States, have beaks of different sizes and shapes, adapted to eat nectar and transport pollen from specific flower species. Many scientists believe that certain hummingbirds and flowers evolved together, forming a symbiotic, sustaining relationship.
Because of their dainty size and beauty, hummingbirds have often been exploited. During the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of hummingbirds were killed for decorative purposes. In Europe and England, feathers and preserved bodies were used to create fashionable hats, and skins were used to make artificial flowers and dusters. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 finally prohibited commercial trade, but it is unknown how many species had already been driven extinct.
Hummingbirds live throughout the Americas, from Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America almost to the Arctic Circle, but the majority of species inhabit the tropical rainforests of South America. Many species migrate along riverside forests, some covering thousands of miles per year. They are able to remember exact migration paths and return to the same spot each year. Because of hummingbirds’ constant need for refueling, increased habitat alteration and degradation along their migration paths are a grave danger to their survival. Urban development, expansion of agriculture, logging, road building and pipelines are destroying the forests that house the flowers needed by hummingbirds. Today, Brazil’s hook-billed hermit is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and dozens of other species are considered by bird conservation groups to be in danger due to habitat loss and destruction.
