The ruby-throated hummingbirds, which we saw at the English Country Garden, were likely preparing for it migration. In fact, we did not see the red throats. That is not unusual. The red is only visible when the light is just right. Added to that, only the males have the gorgeous red throats and I have heard that males start migration before the females. They might be out of the province all ready.  They don’t require health insurance. When conditions are right, they take off. Can anyone blame them?

Some of the ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate over the Gulf of Mexico enroute to South America. As result, they will load up seriously on nutrients before their long flight. During this process, that takes about 2 weeks, the hummingbird will double its body weight.  Across the Gulf of Mexico on the way to South America they are not able to stop. Stopping means death.

There basically are very few islands in the Gulf. As a result, they usually embark on a 500-mile non-stop flight that takes about 20 hours and during this time the bird loses 70% of its body weight in less than a day!

The hummers I saw at Assiniboine Park were no doubt getting ready to migrate down south. Their migrations are so astonishing that many continue to think that they hitch rides on the bodies of geese. Personally, I think that is a conspiracy theory. Others claim they ride on cruise ships.

After all, how could such a tiny bird fly non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico?  Yet they do it; somehow, as the shoe company says, they “just do it”. Some of them actually follow the coast, taking a longer but safer route. Across the Gulf if the bird encounters a head wind it can die. Headwinds can be deadly. No one said the life of a hummingbird is easy? They also don’t fly in formation to make it easier, as geese do. They migrate alone. That is one lonely and tough flight. It makes even an Air Canada flights look good.

Some of them actually follow the coast, taking a longer but safer route. Across the Gulf if the bird encounters a head wind it can die. Who said the Life of a hummingbird is easy? They don’t fly in formation to make it easier. They migrate alone.

For many reasons, humans are enamored of hummingbirds.  Who could blame us? As Charles Bowden who frequently wrote for Arizona Highways magazine,  explained,

We are all seduced by hummingbirds, by the flash of color, the sudden iridescence, the rapid movement, the hovering, and the fact that something so small will fly right up to our face. In a world where so much of the wild flees at our approach, hummingbirds seem to promise redemption, whatever the real reason for their behavior.

According to Susan Wethington, “Hummingbirds are one of the few animals people connect with immediately, and every culture with hummingbirds has a positive connection. I think hummingbirds provide an opportunity to engage people in nature and open eyes to the natural world. And quite frankly, if we can’t save hummingbirds, what group of animals can we save?” ]

Bowden was right when he said, “If you want to see the only future worth being part of, you join the world of hummingbirds.” [3] It really does make sense to “protect the joy.” Personally, I don’t want to be a part of a world without hummingbirds.  How about you?

Some hummingbirds don’t migrate.  The Anna’s hummingbirds live year round in Arizona. Who could blame them for staying? Why do the others leave? Others like the Ruby-throated and Rufous-sided hummingbird migrate amazing distances. Before migrating, hummingbirds have to stock up on a lot of calories. They become “eating machines,” according to Krebbs. They need fat, fat, and more fat to cross the Gulf of Mexico for example, as some ruby-throats traverse that huge bay, it takes about 2 grams of fat for a hummingbird to travel 600 miles. Remember, hummingbirds don’t weigh much more than 2 grams. I gram is equal to 9 calories. They burn from .69 to .74 calories per hour.  About 2 grams of fat are needed to cross the Gulf of Mexico. That is why hummingbirds have to nearly double their weight before they embark on this incredible flight.  That means hummingbirds consume a piddly 18 calories to cross the Gulf of Mexico.

The ruby-throated hummingbird, which is the most common hummingbird in Manitoba, and the only one I have seen here, is an amazing migrant. It spends its winters in South America and therefore the poor ruby-throated hummingbird has to make an epic journey twice each year. This is the longest migration of any bird in comparison to the size of the bird (except see Rufous). The tiny bird must fly a mighty marathon to cross the Gulf of Mexico in a steady flight of 18 hours across 500 miles of open water. All of this is done without stopping. Stopping would be fatal. So it cannot drink or feed while it crosses the Gulf.

The long and short of it—especially short—is that hummingbirds are amazing creatures.

Hummingbirds can fly at speeds of up to 50mph. Not bad for such a tiny bird!  But that is far from their most remarkable achievements.   The flying abilities of hummingbirds allow them to produce dazzling speeds. They need that speed in order not just to find flowers, but get at the nectar before their competitors, other hummingbirds, interfere with them. They also like to avoid photographers. Then they need to fly and react fast.

The flight of the hummingbird is one of the marvels of the natural world. Hummingbirds are able to rotate their wings at the shoulder because of their modified wing bones.

A couple of years ago, I watched a wonderful TV show, Magic in the Air. In it Professor Doug Aufschuler, interviewed on the show called them “some of the most elite athletes of the animal world.”  That is surely no exaggeration. They can fly, not just backwards, but in a figure 8 pattern. They can also  fly briefly fly upside down.

Hummingbirds need a lot of fuel each day because “their metabolism is stuck in overdrive,” as the television show aptly put it. Even at “rest” the hummingbird’s heart beats up to 600 times per minute or 10 times per second!  What kind of a “rest” is that? When it is active that heart can beat twice that—i.e. 1,200 times per minute or 20 times per second!  Their hearts beat at about 10 times that of an average human.

No wonder they need such large hearts. That is why the heart of the hummingbird accounts for nearly 1/3 of the bird’s weight.

The Anna’s hummingbird which we saw often in Arizona, has a spectacular mating display which I have seen. The male dives at the females and chirps at amazing speeds. It has been thought to dive at an incredible 10 G’s, similar to the force at which jet pilots black out.

 Hummingbirds are astonishing birds. I watched a PBS show on Nature called “Super Hummingbirds.”  That is an appropriate title. It was fascinating because Hummingbirds are fascinating.

As they said on that show, “Nothing in the world is a like a hummingbird. Their abilities border on the magical. They fly with such speed they seem to alter time.”  Or how about this one, “Hummingbirds seem to spring from the imagination. They have abilities other birds don’t have. Time seems to bend for them.”

Their wings also beat at astonishing rates. The wings beat at more than 70 times per second! Even high-speed cameras blur those wings.

 The high-definition cinematography used in that in the show was also outstanding. They had some amazing shots of a hummingbird coming right into a flower. How is that possible? Obviously, they had put a tiny camera inside a flower! Humans are almost as amazing as hummingbirds!

Even though hummingbirds fly so fast it often seems like one could not be sure if one saw a hummingbird or not. They are like tiny phantoms. Yet, “Hummingbirds are made to be seen. They catch the light.  These sunlit gems evoke such wonder, we struggle to describe them.”

 These really are astonishing birds. Among the most fascinating in the endlessly fascinating world of birds. As the television show said, “hummingbirds are more than just beautiful, they are brilliant.” I could not have said it better myself

“Astounding” seems like much too mild a word.

When I went to the English Country Garden to try my best to photograph the hummingbirds  all of my problems were exasperated by the incredible winds. If the hummingbird landed on a branch in the sun, as it did from time to time, it was only for a brief moment. And then, as often as not, the wind moved the branch a great distance and the bird somehow managed to hang on for dear light. Of course, by then, the camera lens was no longer pointed at the bird, but that darned tree again.

This was the most amazing race of technologies.  The Bird technology  was holding its own however. It would alight on a branch or hover in front of a flower for just the briefest moment before moving on. I was profoundly challenged to keep up. The John Neufeld technology was not working so great. I was in the real  amazing race. And most I was losing.

Added to that, however, the birds had one flaw which made it almost impossible to grab an image in focus.  They would constantly be chasing each other. These tiny hummingbirds are amazingly territorial. Even though there was an abundance of nectar—the nectar of the Gods, yet each bird would try to chase away each competitor. That just  showed they have evolved. Don’t let any other bird get your nectar!  Even if it means they were wasting an in incredible amount of time in which they could be fuelling up, they  were instead chasing the competition away. This was insanity.

This was insane.  Each bird in the garden could easily find plenty of flowers for itself. Hummingbirds are the tiniest birds in the western hemisphere.  A baby hummingbird is about as heavy as a post-it note! As soon as they can fly, they are constantly on the move.  They stop for very short and infrequent rest stops. Like this bird posing for me in the sun. Mocking me and my feeble efforts.