Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hummingbirds at the feeder

Today is the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, where most of the readers of this blog are located. Rather than showing a large turkey, I am showing tiny hummingbirds this week. Hummingbirds need to feed often because of their high metabolism. They move fast, their hearts beat 10 times faster than ours, and they store so few calories that they weigh about the same as a large paper clip.

These two birds are likely not a pair. Male hummingbirds mate with females, but otherwise are not involved with the females, who nest and raise the children alone.

Hummingbirds can be territorial and scare off other birds, including other hummingbirds, from the flowers they frequent. In this shot the birds are sharing the feeder nicely, and evidently must share the nectar with a bee.

This week we are showing nighttime photos of Budapest on Viva la Voyage.

3 comments:

brattcat said...

Just when I think you've already accomplished the impossible by taking a close-up photo of a single hummingbird you surprise me and post a photograph of two. Amazing. If you're having turkey today, I hope it's a fine one and that you have your loved ones (at least some of them) around the table with you.

Sharon said...

You certainly had great luck with the hummingbird photos. This one is wonderful too!

Anonymous said...

I've been trying for some time to get a good hummingbird picture. You make it look so easy. thanks for the pictures.

Louis

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