Have you seen a hummingbird recently? I did and I admired the beauty of the hummingbird and the grace of their flight. And I thought, why is it that I do not see more hummingbirds? Is it that I spend too much time inside? Or maybe I have just not been looking around me when I am outside. Regardless, on this THPL journey, when I find myself with some kind of knowledge gap I actively try to fill the gap with knowledge about the topic or subject. And so away I went to Google and Wikipedia. It is so fun to do this and to learn of things that I should know but don’t know.
First things first – do they hum? I know they look like the float in the air. But humming? Wikipedia tells me that they are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at high frequencies audible to humans. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 50 times per second. Hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, and 250 breaths per minute, even at rest. During flight, oxygen consumption per gram of muscle tissue in a hummingbird is approximately 10 times higher than that seen for elite human athletes. Just imagine what it would be like if we could have similar performance to the hummingbird – world records would fall quite quickly.
Hummingbirds consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight
As I see it the hummingbird is of the THPL family. They really are high performance creatures. Their wing speed is amazing, their balance remarkable, and their precision in flight is to be marveled at. What’s not to love about the hummingbird? I think it is worth considering that the hummingbird should be the bird mascot for THPL…
Loving life, with a hummingbird by my side