### animal | vertebrate | bird:

Hummingbird
* All hummingbirds are excellent flyers, forewards, side- and backwards
  - very small and have high metabolisms
* Every hummingbird bird.
* Many hummingbirds are green and white
  - can fly backwards and sideways as well as going vertically up and down
  - have shiny, iridescent patches of feathers
  - migrate to find food during the cold winter
  - remain throughout the summer
* Most hummingbirds adapt to environments
  - extreme environments
* Most hummingbirds are bright in color
  - inside nests
* Most hummingbirds come to feeders
  - hummingbird feeders
  - defend territory
* Most hummingbirds depend on nectar
  - plants
  - die in the first year of life
* Most hummingbirds drink nectar
  - sugar water
* Most hummingbirds eat food
  - meals
  - enter gardens
* Most hummingbirds feed on flower nectar
  - fly over homes
  - gain weight
* Most hummingbirds get energy
  - give birth to birds
  - grow feathers
* Most hummingbirds have beaks
  - bills that are long and straight so that they can get nectar from flowers
  - brains
  - color vision
  - good color vision
  - habits
  - hearts
  - legs
  - lifestyle
  - long beaks
  - memory
  - short legs
  - tongues
* Most hummingbirds live in habitats
  - hemispheres
  - regions
  - the South America
  - western hemispheres
  - love food
  - make nests
* Most hummingbirds migrate to environments
* Most hummingbirds pollinate flowers
  - wildflowers
  - raise two broods each breeding season
  - receive food
* Most hummingbirds require energy
  - fuel
  - proteins
* Most hummingbirds return to food
* Most hummingbirds seek nectar
  - shed feathers
  - spread wings
  - suck flowers
  - thrive in regions
* Most hummingbirds use feathers
  - market techniques
  - tail feathers
* Most hummingbirds visit bushes
  - weigh less than a penny
* Some hummingbirds are able to adapt well to gardens, given the right conditions
  - located in valleys
  - catch small insects
* Some hummingbirds collect food
* Some hummingbirds depend on insects
  - wetland
* Some hummingbirds eat bugs
  - establish territory
* Some hummingbirds have consumption
  - oxygen consumption
  - prey
  - relative consumption
  - strength
  - symptoms
* Some hummingbirds lose body heat
  - occur in Arkansas
  - raise broods
  - receive nectar
* Some hummingbirds require havens
  - stations
  - return springs
* Some hummingbirds return to environments
  - shake wings
  - starve to death
  - suck nectar
  - survive first years
  - use energy
* Some hummingbirds visit nests
  - trees
  - vines
* Take down, clean and store feeders.
* There are several types of hummingbirds that live in Colorado.
* adore columbines.
* also benefit from certain herbs
  - consume insects and spiders
  - eat fruit flies and other small flying insects
  - enjoy the sun
* also feed on insects such as mosquitoes, fruit flies, small bees, and aphids
  - small insects for the protein they provide
  - the nectar of hawthorne, horse chestnut and flowering crabapple trees
  - love to feast on the sweet nectar
  - make occasional stops, and moths visit, especially in the evening
* are BIG eaters
  - Oklahoma's smallest birds and are unique in many respects
* are a beautiful little bird that captures everyone's heart
  - favorite with many bird watchers
  - major pollinator of red buckeyes, so the bloom time is no coincidence
  - about migrate back to South America
  - actually easier subjects for banding than most larger birds
  - aggressive feeders and become very accustomed to humans around the feeder
* are almost helpless on the ground
  - like bugs
* are also able to turn off their kidney function at night
  - extremely maneuverable
* are among the most delightful of the wild creatures attracted to gardens
  - technically challenging wildlife to photograph
  - smallest warm-blooded animals on earth
  - an important groups of bird pollinators
  - attracted by their nectar
* are attracted to red, so tie a red ribbon on the feeder or buy a feeder that is red
  - use a feeder that has red components
  - the bright blooms
  - bizarre, fascinating little creatures
  - easy to attract to a backyard garden, a cinch to keep well fed, and a joy to watch
* are extremely territorial about food sources and nest sites
  - and aggressive around a single food source
* are famous for more than their beauty and tiny size
  - their aerial display
  - fascinating, to an extent far disproportionate to their size
  - fearless and inquisitive creatures
  - feisty little birds
  - fiercely independent
* are found as far north as Alaska
  - south as Chile
  - only in North America and South America
  - friendly birds that can do amazing feats
  - fun to watch for their unusual flight
  - hard to capture with a camera
  - helpful in our environment because they eat harmful insects
  - highly active and seemingly effortlessly fly forward and backward or hover
  - important for hummingbird-pollinated flowers
* are important pollinators of many specially adapted flowers
  - specially adapted plants
  - in a class of their own
  - just minor kachinas
  - master architects
  - more skillful than bees
  - native to the Americas
  - naturally aggressive and territorial
  - nifty fliers
  - one of the few birds that can lift themselves straight up into the air
  - only the size of a small mouse, but they are extremely feisty little birds
  - perhaps the most delicate, labor-intensive orphans in the desert
  - probably the most unusual birds that visit our neck of the woods
  - quite relaxed around people because of their ability to hover and fly backwards
  - small and often very small birds with habitat on the american continent only
  - small, colorful birds with iridescent feathers
  - strictly a bird of the Western Hemisphere
  - territorial over necter sources
  - the most common bird pollinators
* are the only animal that can fly backwards
  - animals able to fly backwards
  - birds capable of flying backwards
* are the only birds that can fly backwards
  - fly both forward and backwards
  - second largest family of birds in the Western Hemisphere
  - smallest species of birds
  - sparkling jewels of summer
* are the tiniest birds in the world
  - on the planet
  - world's smallest birds
  - tiny birds that can fly forwards and also hover in mid-air
  - truly all-American birds, because they live nowhere else on Earth but the Americas
  - very inquisitive creatures
* are very small birds and they have a high metabolism
  - with a high metabolism
  - territorial and they normally dive bomb one another at the feeders
  - territorial, and they often pick their territory early in the season
  - well suited to exploit such niches
  - winter visitors
  - wonderfully small birds with either metallic green or red throats
* arrive at locations.
* bathe often and play in the water.
* beat wings.
* begin to migrate to warmer climates in late fall.
* build the tiniest nest of all, little more than an inch across
  - tiny nests the size of Japanese sake cups, wedged in the fork of a branch
* can also die when they are caught in spider webs
  - hibernate overnight
  - catch insect on the wing
* can consume two thirds of their body's weight every day
  - up to twice their body weight in nectar every day
  - distinguish different kinds of sugars and their concentrations
  - even fly upside down
* can fly backwards, forwards, sideways, upside down, and can hover
  - forward, backward, and they can hover
* can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down
  - backwards, even upside down
  - hover as well as fly sideways, backwards and even upside down
  - live up to nine years
  - never remember the words to songs
  - rotate their wings backward, which creates downward 'lift' and backward 'thrust'
* can see farther than humans
  - ultraviolet light
  - wavelengths into the near-ultraviolet
  - taste just enough to know what is good and what is bad
* carry the gift of flight to a new level.
* claim a feeding territory and defend it vigorously.
* come and go with much regularity.
* communicate with visual display.
* compete for food by challenging and bullying each other
  - nectar and insects
* consume about half their weight in food each day
  - half their weight in sugars each day
* display a range of foraging patterns.
* divide themselves by territories.
* do sleep in a position with their neck retracted and their head forward.
* drink by using protrusible grooved or trough-like tongues
* eat about every ten minute, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day
  - every ten minutes to keep up with there high metabolism
  - from only red flowers
  - insects and insect eggs on the ground and in trees
* eat nectar from flowers and also gather insects for protein
  - small insects in the wild
  - only nectar
* eat small insects and nectar
  - soft bugs for protein
  - twice their body weight each day
* enjoy a cool bath, whether it be a bird bath, or in a cupped leaf
  - dripping water, which they choose over still pools
  - grooming themselves
  - the nectar of the early spring flowers
  - torpor to conserve energy
* especially enjoy flying through the cool water provided by a mister.
* favor long tubular blossoms, and the color red gets their attention first.
* feed at the flowers
  - every ten to fifteen minutes from sun-up to sundown
  - heavily on tiny insects as well as nectar
  - on a combination of flower nectar and small insects caught on the wing
* feed on flower nectar and are attracted to red, tube-shaped flowers
  - with a long, brush-like tongue
  - nectar, suplemented with insects
  - the brilliant heliconia
  - throughout the day, at intervals as often as every eight to twelve minutes
* find the brilliant color of California fuchsia irresistible.
* flap wings.
* fly as little as possible, mostly to feed and to chase off intruders
  - great distances when they are migrating
  - to drink nectar
  - with their hands
  - most of their energy by sipping nectar from flowers
  - their name from the humming sound produced by their wings when flying
* has-part backs
  - muscles
  - stomachs
* have a high requirement for energy because of their very active flight
  - joint in the upper jaw, just behind the maxilla
* have an excellent memory and can recall any feeding source they have used in the past
  - incredible energy output and their food of choice is in the form of sugars
  - appetite
  - certain common characteristics
  - few natural predators
  - fewer feathers than other birds
  - knowledge of how to use flowers for healing
  - large brains and hearts
  - little to no sense of smell
* have long beaks
  - bills and grooved tongues to reach into flowers to feed on flower nectar
  - long, needlelike beaks they use to probe deep into flowers
  - many skeletal and flight muscle adaptations which allow great agility in flight
  - narrow and tapered wings
* have no sense of smell but have very keen eyesight
  - only a few taste buds on the tongue
  - proportionally the largest hearts of any living animal
  - regular eyelids to block light from each eye
  - ribs
  - small brains relative to the size of their bodies
* have the fastest wing beat of any bird
  - highest metabolism of any animal on earth
  - largest known relative heart size of any bird
  - tiny hairs on the tip of the tongue to help lap up nectar
  - two main feeding strategies
* have very high blood sugar
  - large eyes in proportion to their body weight
  - weak feet and can barely walk
* help flowers to pollinate, though most insects are best known for doing so.
* includes air sacs
  - bird's feet
  - breasts
  - cell membranes
  - cells
  - chest cavities
  - chests
  - corpi
  - cytoplasm
  - faces
  - flight feathers
  - heads
  - lips
  - mouths
  - nuclei
  - plasma membranes
  - quill feathers
  - rib cages
  - second joints
  - sections
  - skulls
  - sterna
  - talons
  - vacuoles
  - wishbones
* lack a true song.
* learn to associate flower colors, like red, with food.
* like to bathe in a shallow pool of water, such as a cupped leaf
  - perch
  - take a bath on a cupped leaf or a shallow pool
* live at a variety of altitudes across their habitats.
* live in Latin America and North America
* look for specific plants and materials for building their nests.
* love Azaleas which are the mainstay of shady gardens on acid soil
  - it and enjoy feeding in the shade
  - it, and it is the larval food for the small cassius blue butterfly
* love red flowers
  - or orange colored, trumpet shaped, single flowers
  - the orange flowers
* love to bathe on misted leaves
  - drink nector and buzz from flower to flower pollinating mother nature
  - fly through misters and bathe on leaves that have been misted
  - tubular, crimson flowers
* migrate because it is an innate, genetic instinct
  - by riding on the backs of geese
  - south at summer's end
  - through Houston in spring and fall
* move upward, downward, and sideways in a virtuoso performance of aerial acrobatics.
* need nectar.
* occur throughout the Americas, but most species inhabit tropical South America.
* often leave when there are flowers and feeders still available.
* often return to the same feeding stations year after year as if on schedule
  - nest year after year
  - seek nectar from the flowers
* perch in trees.
* pick up sound.
* play a major role in pollination.
* pollinate many varieties of native cactus and other plants
* possess feathers.
* prefer a habitat with a diversity of flowers and shrubs
  - downy like materials, spider webs, ferns, moss and lichens for nesting material
  - long nectar tubes that bloom red, orange, or yellow
  - migrating by day as they fly low in the sky
  - to make their nests in the fork of tree branches
  - tubular flowers that are red, orange, or pink
* press the limits, and live their lives only a few hours from starvation.
* primarily eat flower nectar, tree sap, insects and pollen.
* probably see a little further into the infrared aand ultraviolet ranges than do humans.
* readily find and use feeders and their food is very easy and cheap to make.
* rely on nectar as a major part of their diet
  - the carbohydrates in nectar to maintain a high speed metabolism
* remember where their source of food is
  - they found satisfaction last year
* require a special type of feeder
  - lots of energy
  - narrower gardens than butterflies in order to access flowers on either side
  - nectar to fuel their constantly moving bodies
* rest on trees.
* rotate wings.
* share some of the same predators as birds of greater size.
* sing with their hands.
* sip nectar from blossoms
  - out of bright orange Lantana
  - sweet nectar from flowers and eat some tiny bugs
* spend most of their feeding time visiting flowers to eat nectar
  - life perching
* supplement their diet with insects for protein.
* survive by drinking nectar, the sweet liquid inside flowers.
* swallow food.
* take nectar from flowers.
* tend to nest at the tips of branches to avoid predators.
* to adapt to gardens.
* travel north as far as Alaska from their winter home in Mexico.
* use a long, brush-like tongue to draw their sustenance, nectar, from flowers
  - certain wildflower species for nectar
* use innovative market techniques
* use their feet for scratching and perching
  - needle-like beaks as straws to get nectar from flowers
* usually look for large, bright red or yellow flowers
  - return to the same area they visited last year
  - frequently, and some nest here
  - red flowers more than any other type
* visit the blossoms for nectar
  - flowers and the feeders in summer and fall
+ Hummingbird, Eating habits and pollination
  * Hummingbirds help flowers to pollinate, though most insects are best known for doing so. The hummingbird enjoys nectar, like the butterfly and other flower-loving insects, such as bees
  - pollination, Co-evolution with flowers
  * Many plants pollinated by hummingbirds produce flowers in shades of red, orange, and bright pink, though the birds will take nectar from flowers of many colors. Hummingbirds can see wavelengths into the near-ultraviolet. However, their flowers do not reflect these wavelengths as many insect-pollinated flowers do. The narrow color spectrum may make hummingbird-pollinated flowers inconspicuous to insects, thereby reducing nectar robbing by insects