More Hummingbirds and Green Herons

[yourlibrarian]

(remainder on my account post)

Comments

[shirebound]

A rare shot of a hummingbird sitting still!

[yourlibrarian]

Yes! They are such fidgety little things even when they do perch for a few moments. It's almost like that metabolism keeps them in a constant quiver.

so sweet!

[beachglass]

love it <3

Re: so sweet!

[yourlibrarian]

I'm pretty sure everyone's enchanted by hummingbirds :)

[paw_prints]

Dear wee bird. Humming birds fascinate me so much. We don't have them where I live.

[yourlibrarian]

They are amazing little creatures. Until we moved here I had never seen them in person either, certainly never so close. They fly so fast that unless it's hovering or perching I imagine it would be quite easy to miss them.

[paw_prints]

I learned all about them recently in an amazing documentary about Alaska. They absolutely fascinate me, so it was quite a thrill to see your post today. Apparently their wee wings flap an average of 60 times a second, and their tongues can manage nine licks of sap a second! All that in a tiny package that weighs an average of just FOUR grams!

They are not found at all in my country (NZ).

EDIT - sorry for double words in previous version of this comment. I'm using a speech to text editor that fluffs up sometimes.

[yourlibrarian]

Ah no worries. Wow, Alaska of all places! I don't know if you'll be region blocked from this link but we saw a terrific documentary on hummingbird research earlier this year and it looks like the whole episode is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrlr45uGapQ

[paw_prints]

Thanks for the link! It would seem that link goes to a trailer, with a link to the full episode. The full episode is region blocked unfortunately, but I was able to watch the trailer. :)

[shadowycat]

What a lovely shot! :D

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks! There's more at the link.

[manuleanders]

Tiny great guy!

[yourlibrarian]

They are fierce though! There's two of them that keep fighting over rights to the feeder and we can sometimes hear their beaks clack.