Hummingbirds

While visiting at a friends' cabin on Harrison Lake this past weekend,

we were all fascinated by the many hummingbirds that chattered and

buzzed around the two feeders on the deck.

Harv set up his camera and snapped away, trying to capture their speed, brilliance and acrobatic flight. Here are a few of his best shots.

We also did a bit of research on hummingbirds and thought we'd share a few of the interesting facts we learned about these marvels of flight.

• The male hummingbird is more colorful than the female.
• A hummingbird can weigh anywhere between 2 and 20 grams.
  (A penny weighs 2.5 grams )

• A hummingbird wings will beat about 70 times per second; up to 200 times per second when diving.
• 30% of a hummingbird's total weight is made up of flight muscles.

• No other bird has as many feathers per square inch as a hummingbird has.
• The brain size of a hummingbird is 4.2% of its total body weight
  

• A hummingbird can rotate each of its wings in a circle, making them the only bird that can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways or sit still in sheer space. To hover, hummingbirds move their wings forward and backward in a repeated figure eight, much like the arms of a swimmer treading water.
• The normal resting heartbeat of a hummingbird is 480 beats per minute, this number can go up to 1,260 per minute when it is excited. These little birds breathe 250 times per minute.
• The life span of a hummingbird is usually 5 to 10 years.

• A Hummingbird can move instantaneously in any direction, start from its perch at full speed, and doesn't have to slow up to land.
• Hummingbirds can even fly short distances upside down, a trick rollover they employ when being attacked by another bird.
• Hummingbirds can dive 60 mph and their speed can average 25-30 mph.
  

• The most astonishing quality of hummingbirds is their ability to broadcast color. Hummingbirds radiate like hot coals in the sun.
• The color that reaches your eye is created by pigment, which absorbs some colors and rejects others. Like soap bubbles, hummingbird's color comes from iridescence, not pigment. It winks on and off, depending on the light source and the angle of the viewer. This allows hummingbirds to flash colors or hide them which is useful for males who want to impress females or threaten other males.

The beauty, speed and agility of the these tiny birds are a glorious tribute to God who created all the the birds of the air..... from the largest eagle to this tiny marvel.