Bird-Center.net

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

by Adam Fulford, Bird-Center.net

Hummingbirds’ Wings

Hummingbirds hover and dart forwards, backwards, and sideways amongst bright bell-shaped flowers, making a humming sound. That’s how they got their name. The humming sound comes from the extremely rapid beating of their wings, 22 to 70 beats per second.

Diet

Such motion requires an incredible amount of energy. To get this energy, they need to find 1000 flowers and sip their nectar, and eat bugs.

Size of Humminbirds

The average weight of hummingbirds is between 3.5 and 9 grams. The smallest hummingbird is the bee hummingbird. It weighs 2.5 grams and is 1.75 inches long. The bee hummingbird is perhaps the smallest bird in the world. The giant hummingbird of South America weighs almost 20 grams and is 8 inches long.

Feathers

Hummingbirds have brightly colored feathers that appear to glow.

Where Do Hummingbirds live?

They’re usually seen hovering around flowers and gardens. When they rest they perch on branches or flower stalks. They often have their favorite perches. Hummingbirds only live in the Americas. Most of them live in tropical places, but some can be found as far north as Canada. The hummingbirds’ average lifespan is five years, but some live can live up to twelve years.

What Are Humminbird Nests Like?

Hummingbird mothers build tiny nests for their chicks. The nests are made with plant bits, lichen, and spider webs. They are disguised and well-hidden among branches to hide the baby hummingbirds from predators.

What is a Hummingbird’s Wing speed?

Hummingbirds’ wings have been clocked between 40-80 flaps per second. Giant hummingbirds flap their wings more slowly at around 8 beats per second.

How Fast Can Hummingbirds Fly?

Hummingbirds have been timed flying at speeds as high as 30 miles per hour, and dive as fast as 60 miles per hour.

What is Humminbirds’ Heart Rate?

Hummingbirds’ little hearts beat approximately 1260 times per minute when they are flying.

Hummingbird Flowers

by Adam Fulford, Bird-Center.net

Imagine looking out your window and seeing colorful little hummingbirds hovering and zipping forwards, sideways and backwards like little fairies as they sip nectar from bright flowers in your garden.

Hummingbirds like to sip nectar juice from special flowers all their own. Hummingbird flowers usually don’t have much aroma. They find flowers by the way they look, not the way they smell. The colors of flowers that Hummingbirds like can’t be seen by most bugs but hummingbirds can see them very clearly and from very far away — even a half mile away!

How to Recognize Hummingbirds Flowers

Most hummingbird flowers hang downwards, like bells. Examples of hummingbird flowers include coral honeysuckles, shrimp plants, cardinal climbers, cardinal flowers, Texas sages, petunias, impatiens, autumn sages, anise-scented sages, and bee balms.

How Hummingbirds Pollinate Flowers

When a hummingbird hovers around a flower and sticks its beak into it to feed on nectar, pollen will dirty its little chin and forehead. Some of the pollen on the hummingbird’s dirty little face will rub off on the next flower that the hummingbird feeds on. This helps the flowers. Pollen fertilizes eggs inside the flower, so the flower can produce fruit with seeds that can grow into new plants.

Just to Survive, Hummingbirds Have To Eat Several Times Their Own Weight in Nectar Every Day

The way Hummingbirds fly, fluttering their wings so rapidly that they vibrate and hum, requires lots and lots of energy which they get from sipping nectar from lots and lots of flowers.

To provide them with a constant supply of all the energy they, you’ll want plants that bloom flowers in spring, plants that flower in the summer, and other plants that flower in the fall. In warmer places, a garden can bloom flowers all year round!

Their energy consumption is so high that at times – on long, cold nights, for instance – they even go into a state of torpor to stretch out their energy reserves so they won’t starve to death. Although not all North America’s hummingbirds travel as far as the Ruby-throat, they also require extra “fuel” reserves to make their migration flights possible.

Hummingbirds Travel Far and Wide

Ruby-throats hummingbirds add more than 50% to their weight in preparation for their flight and then begin their long migration, not from the coast, as you might expect, but from well inland in Florida or Georgia, ending their trip well inside Mexico.

How Fast Do Hummingbirds Fly?

Hummingbirds have been timed in wind tunnels at a maximum speed of 43 kph (27 mph), and although their speed across the Gulf is unknown, even a speed in excess of 43 kph would require more than 20 hours of non-stop flying! On the return trip north, Ruby-throats arrive in the southern U.S. by March or early April. By mid-May, the northern-most populations have arrived in Canada.

Hummingbird Diet

Hummingbirds “drink” nectar, a good source of carbohydrates, but they eat a fair number of invertebrates too. The insects and spiders they catch as they visit flowers provide protein, an important part of their diet. But, like marathon runners, they spend their last days before migration “carbo-loading” – stocking up on the carbohydrates that offer quick fuel for a long trip.

• Don’t buy compact or pocket-sized binoculars (typically 8 x 21, or 10 x 21) as your primary pair for birding. The size and weight are attractive, but no matter how good the optics, compacts provide a lower quality image than mid- or full-size binoculars. Another drawback is that most compacts have a narrow field of view, which makes it very difficult to locate and follow birds.
• Don’t buy zoom binoculars. Expert birders report them as being inferior.
• Don’t seek advice on buying optics from non-birders. Hikers, hunters, and boaters have different needs than birders. Looking at birds is not the same as looking at other wildlife. Pocket binoculars are fine for looking across a savannah at an elephant or a cheetah, but they are not suitable for birding. Marine binoculars provide a sharp, bright image, but are too big and heavy to carry around all day.
• Don’t buy binoculars until you have tried them. Make sure they feel comfortable in your hands. Look through them and be sure you get a clear, unobstructed view. Different models suit different people, and each instrument varies. If ordering by mail or online, make sure that you can exchange them.

One thing about binoculars – you don’t always have to have the best specs for bird watching. Any binoculars are better than none at all. The thing to remember is that you need to have something to magnify the birds you will be looking for. If you are serious about bird watching, take heed of the tips for buying binoculars given above. They will be well worth the money!

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Birds have long delighted people all over the world because of their beauty and their power of flight. Birds are  everywhere, and everywhere they are different. Birds are mysterious, beautiful, and sometimes wonderfully elusive.

Historically, they used to be considered omens. The ancient Romans believed that the flights and calls of birds could foretell the future.

Today, modern science still uses birds as a kind of oracle. Changes in bird populations can reflect the health of the environment.

Birding also fulfills another basic instinct—the quest for knowledge. Birding is about acquiring knowledge. Not just about birds’ names, but also about their songs, their behavior, and how they relate to the rest of nature. It’s a perfect opportunity to enjoy a unique human pleasure—the successful exercise of lore.

In fact, amateur birders often get to make real contributions to scientific knowledge. Today, much of what ornithology knows about birds has come from the observations of ordinary but dedicated birders.

Some birds are indicator species, like the USA’s national bird, the bald eagle. They forecast environmental conditions. The knowledge of birds can help us plan a better, more sustainable relationship with nature.

Maybe we watch birds because they are accessible: wherever we go, birds are there, usually active while we are active, sleeping while we sleep. In our own backyards, we lure them with birdfeeders and birdhouses, and by placing shrubs, water, and appropriate plants in the landscape. More than any creature except perhaps insects, birds visibly share our outdoor space, and if we have to travel miles and sit quietly for patient hours in order to see a rare or elusive bird, that makes it a treasure hunt.

We love treasure hunts and we love novelty. Birds provide both. While many birds have very wide ranges, the birds of one country tend to differ from the birds of another; even if you find the birds at home rather ordinary, you will be thrilled by unfamiliar birds when you travel. You will see the same type of bird in varied locations, but the birds will be different.

Birds are beautiful. Their brilliant hues offer a companion to their color vision. Birds flash past in every shade from emerald to vermillion, beautiful as showy flower blossoms but usually more surprising. An endless variety of patterns, shapes, and sizes delight us. Even the common crow has a lovely sheen and certain elegance. Yes, birds are an awesome part of life – how could we not watch birds?

Bird watching is FUN! It gives you a great excuse to leave your television behind and venture out into the elements. Need a good reason to head out and go for a walk? Bring along your binoculars. It provides a healthy activity that just about anyone can enjoy. You don’t need good knees like skiing. You don’t even need to be able to venture beyond your own back yard. Bird feeders placed on window sills allow individuals with limited to enjoy birds with little or no effort.

Birding is also the ideal solitary sport. There’s a special pleasure in going out alone to bird. Your mind settles down. Your senses open up, and all nature seems to become your friend. Birding is a sport of many moods, and it serves the causes of companionship and solitude equally well.

Be warned, however, Birding can be addictive. You may find yourself obsessed with some rare species that may have been reported locally. You find yourself getting up earlier and earlier to put in a few hours of birding before work. You begin looking at your landscaping in a whole new way as you start planting more bird friendly plants, installing feeders and bird baths and reducing the use of harmful chemicals.

As we’ve said, birds can be fascinating creatures. If you’ve never watched them before, just try for a few moments in the early morning light. Look at how they soar through the air. Listen to their morning songs. You can find great peace and great enlightenment in birds. How would you be able to truly enjoy these creatures unless you watched them? It’s time to get started in bird watching!

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU NEED?

The best part about bird watching is that you don’t need much in the way of tools to do it effectively. You should just start with a good pair of binoculars, a field guide, a notebook, and a camera. Let’s look at each component individually.

Binoculars

You need binoculars to better see the birds. You will soon discover an ironic fact. The best birders have the best binoculars — even though they can identify a bird 100 yards away by its silhouette. Newcomers with a cheap binocular see a fuzzy ball of feathers and don’t have a clue which bird it is. There is an unbelievable difference between a $59 binocular and a $900 binocular.

Binoculars are a birder’s eyes on the world, and they can greatly affect the quality of a bird outing. Good binoculars make for good birding, while bad binoculars can lead to missed birds and severe headaches induced by blurred images, double vision, and eye strain.

Binoculars come in many different shapes and forms and carry such descriptions as “roof prism,” “close focus,” “armor coated,” etc. At the outset, you don’t need to spend too much time deciphering this arcane lexicon. If you really get hooked on bird watching, you can learn more about binoculars later and trade in for a better pair. A decent pair of binoculars will run you around $60 depending on where you live.

There are a few simple rules to consider and questions to ask when purchasing your first pair of binoculars:

1. Make sure the power (or magnification) is at least 7-power. The power is the first number given in the numerical notation that describes binoculars. For example, a “7 X 35″ pair of “glasses” will make objects appear as if they are seven times as close as they actually are. Seven-power binoculars are about the minimum needed to see birds well. Binoculars 10-power or stronger can be difficult for some birders to hold steady.
2. Make sure that the second number (“35″ for a “7 X 35″ pair of glasses) is at least five times as large as the power (e.g., “7 X 35,” “8 X 40,” etc.). This second number describes the diameter, in millimeters, of the large lens that faces the object of interest – the “objective” lens. The larger this lens is, the greater the amount of light the binoculars gather and thus the easier it will be to see characteristics in dim light or on a dull-colored bird.
3. Are the binoculars too heavy for you to carry and use for at least two hours straight? Don’t end up with a hunchback because your binoculars act like a yoke.
4. Can you flex the barrels of the binoculars fairly easily? To test to see if they are too flexible, spread the barrels out as far as possible and then hold onto only one of the barrels. Does the free barrel slip or fall from the spread position? It shouldn’t.
5. When held a foot away, do the large objective lenses reflect a bluish or purplish tinge? If they do, the lenses are color-coated. This coating reduces internal glare in the binoculars and increases the amount of light that actually comes to your eyes. Check lenses to make sure the coatings are free of any blotches or scrapes.
6. Can you bring the barrels of the binoculars close enough together so that the image you see merges into a single, clear image within a single, perfect circle? If the image isn’t singular or clear, the binoculars may be out of alignment or the eyepieces may not come close enough together to accommodate your eyes. These two problems may lead to eye strain and severe headaches.
7. Do you wear prescription eyeglasses? If you do, your binoculars should have rubber eye cups that fold back. This allows you to put your eyeglasses up closer to the eyepieces of your binoculars and gives you a much larger field of view.
8. Do the binoculars produce a clear image of an object only 20 feet away? Some binoculars do not focus on objects this close, so you may miss the sparrow or warbler that skulks in a nearby bush.
9. Look at a sign with large lettering. Do the letters close to the edge of the field of view appear as precise and well-formed as the letters in the center of the field of view? Image distortion towards the edge of binoculars is common in bad binoculars – like looking through a fish-eye lens. Look for a pair that has minimal distortion
10. When you focus on a license plate or small sign two blocks away, are the letters and numbers clear? If they’re not, choose a different pair!