Hummingbirds travel north as far as Alaska from their winter home in Mexico. During their journey, the males establish territories, defend it from rivals, and put on courtship displays for passing females. A male Broadtail hummingbird was observed flying more than 40 sorties per hour to drive off rivals. Another 45 times an hour he shot 60 feet straight up in the air and back down in a courtship power dive. All this activity, coupled with their high metabolism makes them fearlessly opportunistic to investigate any potential food source.
Hummingbird tongues are incredibly long and specialized.
The muscles that support it run back around the spinal cord, up the outside of the skull and over the top, anchored between the eyes. The tongue itself fills the hummingbird's bill. If you have a pair of binoculars, try training them on a hummingbird drinking nectar at a feeder. If you're lucky, you'll be able to see the white flickering of the tongue entering the feeder hole just ahead of the bill. Relative to its body size and weight, the hummingbird's brain is larger than ours, which may explain their remarkable memories.