In South America the Andes mountains provide great habitat for numerous hummingbirds. In fact, as David Attenborough remarked, “half of all humming birds live in these mountains along with their plant partners.”

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which is the only one to live in Manitoba, needs to make sure that it leaves the north before its plants stop producing nectar for the winter. If it fails to do that right it will starve.  When the time comes, they begin their incredible migration to the south. When they arrive in places like Rockport Texas they load up with food where they can get it. Many people place feeders for them on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Each of the humming birds must convert sugar from its source such as nectar, into fat for the long migration over the gulf which has very few islands for resting on the flight.  Most fly non-stop across the Great Bay that some idiots call the Gulf of America.

According to David Attenborough, “in just 3 days the average hummingbird will nearly double its weight. This is the equivalent of a human of average weight putting on over 50 kg of fat in 3 days.” As Attenborough said, “During the peak of migration Rockport is home to tens of thousands of hummers. This spectacle of so many hummers can be found nowhere else on earth.” Needless to say, it attracts bird enthusiasts from around North America. Those are the real bird brains.

The crossing of the Gulf of Mexico is the greatest test of the flying skill of the hummingbirds. They make their journey at night and fly at least 800 km non-stop. That is an enormous task for such a little bird. No one really knows how they can do it. But they do it.

I love this photo because it shows the long tongue of these birds which are used to suck out nectar from flowers with long nectar chambers.

David Attenborough summed up hummingbirds like this:

“There is much we do not know about humming birds and their secret high-speed lives, but what we do know is that they are the most remarkable, colourful, energetic and acrobatic of all creatures. They live at the limits of what is possible. Nature’s miniature masterpieces and all because they are the messengers of plants.”

We are fortunate to be blessed with hummingbirds. Life would be so much duller without them.