Aug. 13, 1999

     Hummingbirds

John James Audubon called hummingbirds "glittering fragments of the rainbow," and most naturalists agree they are the gems of the bird world.  Because their fall migration period begins in early August, we in the southern part of Minnesota begin to notice more hummingbirds in our gardens usually by mid-August.

The tiniest of all birds, hummingbirds are confined to the Western Hemisphere.  Although it is a populous family with at least 300 species, most are tropical.  Only 18 species are found north of the Mexican border.  Only one species, the ruby-throat, nests east of the Rocky Mountains.  This species is a summer resident in Minnesota.

Members of the hummingbird family have narrow, pointed wings operated by powerful muscles; their feet are tiny and weak, suitable only for perching, and their slender bills have brushlike tongues.  These tongues can be extended and rolled into tubes for sucking nectar from flowers.  Nectar and tiny insects are their principal food.

All hummingbirds feed while hovering and can fly backward.  Their wing beats are so rapid they produce a humming sound.