Hummingbird Math Facts
Everyone loves hummingbirds, the world's smallest and likely most photographed bird.
Did you know...
- The ruby-throated hummingbird's wing beat 60-80 times per second in normal flight.
- The ruby-throated hummingbird weighs 3-4 grams with a length of 8.5cm.
- The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards and sideways.
- Hummingbirds travel at an average 25 miles per hour.
- The hummingbird will feed on high energy food almost continually as many as 15 times an hour to maintain its 105-109F body temperature. How often do you eat? At night their thermal generators shut down to reduce their body temperature so that they use less energy.
- The hummingbird's heart beats according to its activity. It can be as slow as 50-180 beats per minute when sleeping and up to 1360 beat per minute (recorded in a Blue-Throated Hummingbird). What is your heart rate?
- They consume up to eight times their body weight a day in liquids! If this were converted to a solid from a liquid volume it would be approximately equal to their weight in food.
- A hummingbird can starve to death in as little as two hours if it is still active and doesn't get food.
- The world's smallest bird is the bee hummingbird which is about the size of a bee (length of 2.5 inches or 6.2 and a weight of 1.6 grams or 0.06).
