bird | Morning Bray Farm

August 24, 2010

Flying jewels

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds | Tags: bird, hummingbird, hummingbird facts, hummingbirds |
[12] Comments

If you couldn’t already tell, there’s a lot of interest in hummingbirds at Morning Bray Farm this summer.

We realized we really didn’t know anything about them, so we went in search of facts. The following is from worldofhummingbirds.com and is absolutely fascinating.

It’s a lot of information, but well worth reading. I’ve bolded what I think are the particularly interesting bits.

Hummingbirds are the tiniest birds in the world.
Hummingbirds can flash their bright colors, as well as hide them when needed.
The bright radiant color on hummingbirds comes from iridescent coloring like on a soap bubble or prism.
A hummingbird’s brain is 4.2% of its body weight, the largest proportion in the bird kingdom.
Hummingbirds are very smart and can remember every flower they have been to, and how long it will take a flower to refill.
Hummingbirds can hear better than humans.
Hummingbirds can see farther than humans.
Hummingbirds can see ultraviolet light.
Hummingbirds have no sense of smell.
A hummingbird will use its tongue to lap up nectar from flowers and feeders.
A hummingbird’s tongue is grooved like the shape of a “W”.
Hummingbirds have tiny hairs on the tip of the tongue to help lap up nectar.
A hummingbird’s beak is generally shaped like any other bird beak, just longer in proportion to its body.
A hummingbird’s bottom beak is slightly flexible.
Hummingbirds do not drink though their beaks like a straw. They lap up nectar with their tongues.
A hummingbird’s heart beats up to 1,260 times per minute.
A hummingbird’s heart beats about 250 times per minute at rest.
A hummingbird’s heart is 2.5% of the total body weight.
A hummingbird will take about 250 breaths per minute while at rest.
A hummingbird’s metabolism is roughly 100 times that of an elephant.
Hummingbirds have very weak feet and can barely walk. They prefer to fly.
Hummingbirds like to perch.
Hummingbirds spend most of their life perching.
The hummingbird’s body temperature is about 107 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
A hummingbird can weigh anywhere between 2 and 20 grams. A penny weighs 2.5 grams.
30% of a hummingbird’s weight consists of flight muscles. Human pectoral muscles are about 5% of body weight.
Female hummingbirds are usually larger than male hummingbirds.
An average sized hummingbird will have about 940 feathers.
Females find iridescent feathers attractive.
Hummingbirds do not mate for life.
Male hummingbirds do not help raise the young.
Female hummingbirds do all the nest building.
A hummingbird baby is about the size of a penny.
Females will lay a clutch of two eggs.
Baby hummingbirds cannot fly.
Baby hummingbirds will remain in a nest for three (3) weeks.
Most hummingbirds die in the first year of life.
Hummingbirds have an average life span of about 5 years.
Hummingbirds can live for more than 10 years.
Male hummingbirds are very aggressive and will chase another male hummingbird out of its territory.
A hummingbird’s wings will beat about 70 times per second.
Hummingbird’s wings will beat up to 200 times per second when diving.
Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly both forward and backwards.
Hummingbirds can also hover in mid-air, fly sideways and even upside-down.
A hummingbird can fly an average of 25-30 miles per hour.
A hummingbird can dive up to 60 miles per hour.
A hummingbird’s wings will rotate in a full circle.
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds have been known to travel 500 miles over the Gulf of Mexico to breeding grounds.
It is estimated that a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird takes about twenty (20) hours to fly across the Gulf of Mexico.
Some hummingbirds will travel over two-thousand (2,000) miles twice a year during migration times.
The Rufous Hummingbird travels the farthest north of any other hummingbird to migrate. All the way from Mexico to Alaska.
A hummingbird can eat anywhere from half (1/2) to eight (8) times its body weight a day.
A hummingbird will visit an average of 1,000 flowers per day for nectar.
Hummingbirds eat small soft bugs for protein.
A hummingbird will lap up nectar at a rate of about 13 licks per second.
Hummingbirds can double his/her weight before migration.
There are more than 300 types or species of hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds don’t really sing, they chirp.
A hummingbird’s favorite color is red.
Hummingbirds like tubular type flowers the most.
Hummingbirds pollinate flowers by rubbing their forehead and face in each flower as they get the nectar.
Many plants depend on hummingbirds for pollination.
Hummingbirds get their name from the humming sound produced by their wings when flying.
Early Spanish explorers called hummingbirds flying jewels. ♥

July 10, 2010

Saturday Stuff – A new dove to me

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Saturday Parts & Stuff | Tags: bird, blogging, dove, Eurasian Collared-Dove |
[20] Comments

We have a dove nesting above one of the light fixtures in the barn. Not surprising due to the fact that we have a plethora of doves here.

One of the things I’ve come to love about blogging is that I learn so much – not only because I’m always looking things up to be accurate in my posts, but also because I’m constantly learning new things from all of you.

I found the screeching calls of the doves in Albuquerque very strange until I took the time (only yesterday!) to identify our barn dove. She’s not a Mourning Dove. She’s a Eurasian Collared-Dove and has a very different voice than a Mourning Dove.

Some interesting facts about Eurasian Collared-Doves from whatbird.com:

The Eurasian Collared-Dove is one of two species that have been argued to be the wild ancestor of the domestic Barbary Dove.
Their scientific name, Streptopeleia decaocto, literally means a collar (streptos) dove (peleia). In Greek mythology, Decaocto was an overworked, underpaid servant girl. The gods heard her prayers for help and changed her into a dove so she could escape her misery. The dove’s call still echoes the mournful cries of her former life.
Introduced into the Bahamas in the 1970s, some migrated to Florida in the 1980s. They went unnoticed at first because they look much like the Ringed Turtle-Dove. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that ornithologists realized the suddenly prolific and quickly spreading “turtle-doves” they were watching were actually Eurasian Collared-Doves. Their impact on native species is unknown; some have suggested that their spread represents exploitation of a niche made available by the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon.
A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a “bevy”, “cote”, “dole”, “dule”, and “flight” of doves.

May 1, 2010

Saturday Stuff – Cecil

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Farm, Saturday Parts & Stuff | Tags: bird, silhouette, swallow |
[15] Comments

This is Cecil, just one of the many barn swallows we have here at Morning Bray Farm each spring and summer. He’s sitting on a wind chime hanging on our back patio. The string heading off to the right of the wind chime is a horse or donkey hair trailing from Cecil’s nest.

To simplify matters, we call all of our barn swallows Cecil. When the babies come, we’ll be calling them Sons of Cecil, just like we do every other year.

Some interesting facts about barn swallows from whatbird.com:

The killing of barn swallows for their feathers was one of the issues that led to the founding of the Audubon Society and the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Females prefer to mate with males that have the longest and most symmetrical tails and a dark red chest color.
When building the mud nest, both male and female make up to 1000 trips collecting mud.
A group of barn swallows are known collectively as a “kettle” of swallows.

April 6, 2010

Don’s starling and donkey laws

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Donkeys, Friends and Family | Tags: bird, book, Don, Donkeys Can't Sleep in Bathtubs, laws, starling |
[10] Comments

Over the weekend, Don took what I think is a National Geographic quality photo of a starling sitting in a palm tree. If someone is doing an essay on starlings and needs a photo, they know where to look. 😉

While we were gone, a book I ordered from Amazon arrived. The title: Donkeys Can’t Sleep in Bathtubs. It’s a funny little book about laws that are real, but not enforced.

In Ohio, it is illegal to gallop your donkey.

In Brooklyn, New York, donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs.

You’re probably wondering the same thing I am. What are the stories behind these laws? Alas, it is a cutesy little book. The author does say, “I wish I could tell you more about all the zany laws in this book. But there is not the space…”

Do I sense a mission coming on?

April 4, 2010

Sunday Cinema – Machine gun birds

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Dogs, Friends and Family, Sunday Cinema | Tags: bird, bird calls, Bluie, dog, Easter, grackles, Phoenix |
[12] Comments

Happy Easter! We’re in Phoenix this weekend visiting my dad. This is his dog Bluie. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and is such a good girl.

One of the things I enjoy when visiting my dad is the grackles. They crack me up. I’ve always called them machine gun birds because of their unique call.