It was a beautiful site. There are 338 species of hummingbirds found as far north as Alaska and as far south as Tierra del Fuego Of these, only 16 species breed in the 48 contiguous United States with the Females taking care of the nest and the males defending their territory. The Ruby - Throated Hummingbird is the only one to nest east of the Mississippi River. Their wings rotate at the shoulder allowing them to make a forward stroke followed by a backward stroke. This enables them to hover, fly backwards out of long tubular flowers and upside down, their wings beat about 70 times a second.
Hummingbirds have the largest known relative heart size of any bird.
Their heart is 2.4 percent of their body weight and beats at a rate of 1,260 to 2,000 beats per minute while active and 250 beats per minute when resting. Their eggs are the smallest of any bird, less than half an inch long about the size of the fingernail on your small finger. An average hummingbird consumes one half its weight in sugar and insects each day and feeds at a rate of 5 to 8 times per hour at about 30 to 60 seconds each time. They can live up to 12 years, but the average life-span is 3 to 5 years. Ruby - throated hummingbirds fly 500 miles nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico during their migration.