Humdinger Of A Hummingbird

The Hummingbird is one of our smallest birds being only about 7 to 9 cm long with a wingspan of 8 to 11. They weigh only about 3 g. The adults are a beautiful metallic green mixed with some grayish white below. Their bill is very long, straight and slender, allowing for the collection of nectar, from within the flowers. Their breeding habitat ranges throughout most of eastern North America and some parts of Canada. The Hummingbird is migratory bird spending most of the winter in southern Mexico, Central America. Sometimes they migrate as far south as South America, and into the West Indies. They are solitary birds. The adults typically coming into contact for mating purposes only. Both the male and female, of any age, will aggressively defend their feeding territories. The hummingbird's wings connect to the body only from the shoulder joint. Thus allowing the wing to rotate almost 180 degrees, enabling the bird to fly not only frontward, but backwards as well. They also have the ability to hover in front of flowers while feeding on nectar and insects. It's diet consisting mainly of nectar, as well as small insects and spiders.