Welcome to my Hummingbird Page

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I have always been interested in hummingbirds and thought I'd do a page about two of them..namely the Ruby-Throated hummingbird and the Bee Hummingbird from Cuba.

The Ruby-Throated hummingbirds are the only hummingbird species which breed east of the Mississippi.  They are only 3 1/2 inches long & weight a fraction of an ounce.   Their primary food supply is nector, which they drink by reaching deeply into flowers with their long and strong tongues.  To stay alive they must visit thousands of flowers each day to obtain enough food.  To save energy, they often enter an almost dormant state at night.  Their metabolism dropping by as much as 90%.

The Bee hummingbirds are tiny.  The Bee hummingbirds of Cuba are not only the smallest of all hummingbirds, but also the smallest of all birds on earth.  With body length of about 2.25 inches and weight of 0.07 ounces, the Bee hummingbird is indeed not much bigger than a bee.

Now I would like to tell you about the hummingbird nests.  The nest is a little cup of plant down held together with plant fibers and spider webs.  Some species use bits of lichen.   The nest is less than one inch across the opening.  Two tiny white eggs are laid.  The female, alone, protects the eggs and young.  It takes about two weeks to hatch the young.  Born blind and naked, they are fully feathered and ready to leave the nest in three weeks. Hummingbirds do not re-use the same nest, but often build again at the same location, occasionally right on top f the old nest. Here is a website that you definely want to look at as it shows step by step of a hummingbird nest, eggs and baby hummingbirds.

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