Tag Archives: Hummingbird

The Double Life of the Hummingbird ~ Creation Moments

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GreenVioletear (Colibri thalassinus) Reinier Munguia

Green Violetear (Colibri thalassinus) Reinier Munguia

The Double Life of the Hummingbird ~ ©Creation Moments 2014

“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8

You might guess that the hummingbird, darting around from flower to flower with wings beating some 60 times a second, must burn a lot of energy to keep going. If a 65-pound boy burned up energy at the same rate, he would eat 100 pounds of chicken every day. The fact is, the hummingbird will die if it goes for more Green Violetear hummingbird than two hours without eating. You might wonder, if the hummingbird cannot go more than two hours without eating, when does it sleep? The fact is, the hummingbird does sleep a good eight hours every night. How does he do it?

God has given the hummingbird a most remarkable metabolism. During the day, the hummingbird’s heart must beat 10 times every second as it keeps its incredibly fast metabolism going. But when it goes to sleep, the hummingbird’s heart slows down to less than one beat per second – about the same as ours. And to further slow his metabolism, the hummingbird’s normal daytime temperature drops from 100 (F) degrees to the same temperature as the night air – 50 or 60 degrees. This drop in temperature would kill most warm-blooded animals. But all of this enables the hummingbird to go without food for a good eight-hour sleep.

The hummingbird provides more than enough evidence that the Creator really does care for His creatures, even when they are asleep.

Prayer:
Dear Father, I thank You that You care for me even when I am asleep and cannot protect myself. Comfort me with this truth, especially when I am fearful of the night. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Bob Devine, Uncle Bob’s Animal Stories (Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1986), pp. 38-39. Photo: Green Violetear hummingbird. Courtesy of Mdf. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Creation Moments ©(Used with permission)

Vervain Hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) WikiC

Vervain Hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) WikiC

I always enjoy the articles from Creation Moments, especially the ones about our avian friends. Our Creator is definitely Omniscient (all-knowing). Such wisdom He used in providing for the various needs of the birds.

The Hummingbirds belong to the Trochilidae – Hummingbird Family.

Creation Moments

More Interesting Things from Creation Moments

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George, The Hummingbird

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George the Hummingbird by Emma Foster

I Think We Need To Practice A Little Bit More

George the Hummingbird

In a tropical rainforest by the shores of Chile, there lived two hummingbirds. One was named George and the other was named Frank. They both lived next door to each other in the rainforest and looked a lot alike. They both had pink, green, and blue feathers which were great camouflage. They were great friends.

Now George and Frank were hummingbirds so they were supposed to be able to fly backward. But George never could fly backward. Finally, one day, he was determined to learn how to fly that way. He flew over to Frank’s house, the next tree over, and knocked on the door with his long beak.

“I need your help,” he said. “I want to finally learn how to fly backward.”

“That will be easy,” said Frank. “I’ll show you.”

They found a big enough space to fly long distances and Frank demonstrated. He flew to a giant palm tree and back quite easily, flying backward. After several attempts, George wasn’t getting any better. The first three times, he fell; and, the fourth time, working his wings the wrong way, he flew into a tree and got his head stuck. Frank had to pull him out.

Then Frank had a solution. He grabbed a battery-powered fan and some rope. He tied the fan onto George’s stomach and turned it on. George was off! Sometimes he would fly so fast, he would run into a tree. A Toucan, living nearby, was so unhappy about this that he squawked angrily and chased them to another tree.

Eventually, George mastered flying backward with the fan, so Frank decided to try him once without it. George tried again and again, but it was always better with the fan. Frank helped him put it back on. George used the fan for flying backward from then on. That was just his way of doing it.

The End

(By Emma Foster a Kids Writer. She is 13.)

One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor…. (Proverbs 12:26 ESV)

Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!” (Isaiah 41:6 ESV)

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The Secret Only God Knows About Hummingbirds – by April Lorier

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HummingBirdSMAll of my neighbors have hummingbird feeders on their porches. Why? Well, everyone knows there’s something very special about these birds. Yes, they are birds, and there’s a secret only God knows about them.

Hummingbirds are birds in the family Trochilidae, and are native to the Americas. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12–90 times per second (depending on the species). They can fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so.

Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, though. They don’t have the energy for that! The majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching.

Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10-15% of their time feeding and 75-80% sitting and digesting.

Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of plants and are important pollinators, especially of deep-throated, tubular flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar which is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by preying on insects and spiders, especially when feeding young.

Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their rapid wing beats. They can fly at speeds exceeding 33 mph.

What is awesome about humming birds is that aerodynamically, these birds are not able to fly, and yet they do!

As scientists try to figure out how hummingbirds are flying, I think God is smiling. It’s just another thing only The Creator knows, and that’s fine with me. Life should have some mystery, don’t you think?

(c) 2009 April Lorier

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20

Supplied by and reprinted with permission of April Lorier

See:
More of April’s Articles here

Hummingbirds

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Found only in the New World, the hummingbirds are famous for their bold colors, nectar-feeding habits, seemingly endless energy, and their singular ability to fly backward.

 

Back to the Peterson Field Guide Video Series

“Hummingbirds” Video is from petersonfieldguides at YouTube

See Also:

Birdwatching Trip – Santa Anna NWR