Posted on 09/09/2020 10:05:12 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
High in the Andes, thousands of meters above sea level, speedy hummingbirds defy near-freezing temperatures. These tiny flyers endure the cold with a counterintuitive trick: They lower their body temperature—sometimes as much as 33°C—for hours at a time, new research suggests.
With a metabolic rate roughly 77 times that of an average human, they need to feed nearly continuously.But when it gets too cold or dark to forage, maintaining a normal body temperature is energetically draining. Instead, the small animals can cool their internal temperature by 10°C to 30°C. This slows their metabolism by as much as 95% and protects them from starvation In this state, called torpor, a bird is motionless and unresponsive. “You wouldn't even know it was alive if you picked it up,” Wolf says. But when the morning comes and it’s time to feed, he says, the birds quickly warm themselves back up again. “It’s like hibernation but regulated on an even tighter schedule.”
...While hummingbird hearts can beat by 1000 to 1200 beats per minute in flight, this can slow to as low as 50 beats per minute in torpor
“To do that every night is a pretty incredible feat.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...
Some have learned to use oil platforms way out in the Gulf as rest stops.
thank you for the article. We have 7 feeders and have noticed that the hummingbirds are feeding at twice the normal rate. We had wondered why, but the article states that they have the ability ot lower their temperature to compensate for temperature drops, and perhaps that is what we are seeing. We usually have about 20 or more hummingbirds that are feeding almost continuously now. They will go through 7 larger feeders (32 Oz) in a day, so they have ferocious appetites.
I have Anna’s hummingbirds that over winter, at the same latitude as Williston or Minot ND, though I am on the coast.
The Pacific Ocean does have a tempering effect on the weather.
I find it interesting that your hummers migrate.
Many do stay here...this is a major flyway for many birds migrating across the gulf.
A major bird-watching area. We have an Audubon Society Center just down the street on Dauphin Island.
"Dauphin Island , Alabama is one of the top birding spots in the Southeast and is recognized as a Globally Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society and BirdLife International. An incredible 350 species have been reported on the island. Spring migration is the first landfall for many Neotropical birds who make the 600-mile flight across the Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula. Under adverse weather conditions, large flocks of exhausted birds of many species may seek shelter on the Island in a truly spectacular "fall-out".
'Fall-out' is a real phenomena here. Exhausted birds arriving from the south will see land and just quit flying, literally falling out of the sky.
I was on subs and some times when we would surface, birds lost at sea would crash onto our decks in a similar fashion.
I think the 33 degrees is Fahrenheit and not Celsius.
Maybe not.
“I have hummingbirds feeding daily about three feet from where I’m sitting”
I’m so jealous!
We used to keep sunflowers in the garden and often saw hummingbirds.
Now, no sunflowers and hummingbirds are a rare sight.
Guessing they do not care for the beets?
Not only did every species of hummingbird go into torpor, but several reached surprisingly chilly temperatures. One black metaltail hummingbird’s body temperature dipped to 3.3°C, the lowest ever recorded in birds or nonhibernating mammals
They are of course preparing for the long flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Just an incredible, mind bending feat. To see them gather their nerve as the sit in the trees on the shore then make that great leap. It seems completely impossible for them or any of the other multitude of birds who fly the migratory pathway twice a year.
I have been out on the rigs when a storm comes by and they become exhausted. They die in the thousands and thousands and the fish have a feast. It is pitiful to watch but it is nature in action. Strangely it is apparently a one shot trip for the birds. They have enough energy to make it and just enough. If they are thwarted and have to land on a rig, if they are so “fortunate”, there is nothing there for them to eat and they have spent their energy reserves and die.
Life is cruel. I see these things and wonder how comfortable we should feel that, “His eye is on the sparrow.”
I saved one this morning from a spider web flung up overnight near one of the feeders on the back porch. The five outdoor cats were arrayed like vultures trying to figure out how to get it. It cried in a most terrible sound and until I put it on its back to remove the webs from its wings and tail. It buzzed off to the cherry tree. I was not able to untangle its little feet and not able to see just how bad they were. My eyes are not good for that sort of thing anymore. It did not fall from the tree so I suppose it was OK and preening I hope. The need all the help they can get for their great and unbelievable journey.
Live outside of Omaha and have gone through about 30 lbs of sugar. The hot weather has really pulled them to the feeders. I fill 4 2 cup feeders a day. My orioles are still eating on the grape jelly. Usually when they hatch their eggs, they move onto insects.
Years ago, I had my feeders hanging off wooden boards. One day I see a hummer in one of our bushes. After it hadn’t moved for a bit, I went to check on it and a preying mantis was eating on it.
Thought that was kind of odd and within a week, I had dozens of 4-6” preying mantis hanging upside down on my feeders trying to catch them. Google it, it’s crazy. Replaced the wood with steel feeder poles and haven’t seen any since.
You might like:
Watch hummingbirds ‘dance’ through waterfalls
*ping*
Pretty neat. We like to watch the swifts skim the pond. Barn swallows too. When I built the new hay barn I was concerned they would not be able to build nests on the steel purlins. NO problem. Of course they mess on anything in there.
We have been on a new fence campaign these last few years and have cleaned up some old overgrown and nasty lines. The area swallows have a congregation site on a remote stretch of fence. Dozens of them line up and have a big conclave in the afternoons. They love to follow the mower catching bugs diving and darting around the tractor. Sometimes it seems they do it just for the joy of it.
Forgot to say thanks.
Thanks for the tip. I had no idea that praying mantis’s could kill and eat hummingbirds.
I had a friend who was really into birds & when I told him, he couldn’t believe it. He googled it and was surprised.
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