Rivoli's Hummingbird

Rivoli's Hummingbird aka. Magnificent Hummingbird (arch., but extremely complimentary)
Madera Canyon, Arizona
July 2019
Member of the Hummingbird Family
§A Hover of Hummingbirds§

~True Bird Fact~ Among the largest of the hummingbirds, it's hard for a Rivoli being this zippy and also so big. In contrast to smaller hummers, they're a bit slower, can actually glide a bit sometimes with their wings, and are more insectivorous. They also have one of the highest recorded heart rate among all vertebrates (420-1200 bpm).

Has, like, half a dozen degrees, loves going to college
Mysterious source of wealth
Names his home/boat with words that no one has any idea of the meaning of, like "Ciceronian" 



Well, we've got a Eponymous bird here, and you know what that means

Francois Victor Massena, 2nd Duke of Rivoli (a 7 year old here, presumably looked older as he aged. This is the only picture I could find, sorry!)

(1799 - 1863)

Francois was the youngest child of Andres Massena, one of Napoleon's military commanders during his whole thing. His father's nickname, by the way, was "The Dear Child of Victory", which has got to be hard on a kid. Described on his Wikipedia page as an "Amateur Ornithologist" (hey, that's me!), he accumulated quite a collection of bird specimens in his lifetime. One of the finest private bird collections, the 12,500 birds were eventually sold to an American naturalist, Thomas Bellerby Wilson, and made their way to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Combing through his collection with his cousin, Charles de Souancé, resulted in the describing of a number of new parrots (new to western science at least). You might remember Francois' wife as the source of the name for Anna's Hummingbird. A hummingbird power couple to be sure.

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Madera Canyon, Arizona
July 2019
Member of the Hummingbird Family
§A Bouquet of Hummingbirds§

★The Longest Migration Route of all North American Hummingbirds★

★The Northernmost Breeding Hummingbird★

~True Bird Fact~ So, about that Migration Route- it's really pretty impressive. They travel nearly 4000 miles from Mexico to Alaska along the pacific coast, and then back down along the Rocky Mountains. And they do this every year, and at such an incredibly small body size. This migration is among the most impressive in the animal kingdom. Tough birds! Also, helpful, since their strange clockwise route makes them significant pollinators across a really large area.

~Additional Hummingbird Fact~ Hummingbirds are fast, but not so fast that they have no predators. Often these are the same animals that eat insects, which despite previous claims on this blog, does not mean that Hummingbirds are bugs. However, a clever defense that many birds employ is building a nest in a tree occupied by a bird of prey. These predatory birds are too slow and big to be interested in the small and zippy hummingbird, but they do eat the things that eat Hummingbirds. Smart!

How Endangered Are They? I was surprised, dear reader, to see Rufous Hummingbirds were on the IUCN as a Near Threatened Species. After all, there are a lot of them. 19 million, by the IUCN's own estimates. So what is endangering this bird, exactly? Well, it's actually that exacting and specific migration route. See, if something goes wrong at any of those spots, it impacts the hummingbird. Largely we're talking about climate change here, and the spring flowers blooming too early for hummingbirds to feed off of them. But also they are going to be impacted by the large insect die-offs that result from increased use of pesticides in agriculture. Population numbers have been estimated to have dropped by 60% since 1970.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird
Patton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, Arizona, USA
July 2019
Member of the Hummingbird Family

§A Tune of Hummingbirds§

~true bird fact~ Ok, let's say we take these bird at face value, and assume they are not robots or fairies, but instead are living non-magical creatures. How do these hummingbirds eat, exactly? Well, they flick out their nightmarish tongue into a source of nectar, and that nectar travels along (in a Black-chinned) two grooves in it. The hummingbird then slurps the tongue back into its mouth and squeezes the nectar out. These licks are so fast that they can happen as often as 17 times each second. And I thought I ate fast!

~An additional hummingbird fact~ A hummingbird egg is about the size of a coffee bean, but the nestlings grow quickly. In fact, they grow so much that young birds become larger than their parents. Since a hummingbird nest is made partly out of spider silk, and the birds involved are so light, the nest can just stretch and expand to accommodate this growth. 

Proud atheist
Loves esoteric and complex board games
Pipe smoker
 

Well, I hinted at it in the last blog, but I guess now that I've posted an actual feeder pic, the jig is up. I prefer to get images of hummingbirds in their natural habitat when possible, but the opportunities provided at Tucson Audubon's Patton Center for Hummingbirds are too great to pass up. It is a really cool, extremely off-the-beaten path birding spot, and unique in its ability to draw hummingbirds. There were also some really lovely and helpful volunteers on the day that I visited. Check it out if you're in the area, or even online, where there are live hummingbird cams. Did I see the legendary Violet-crowned Hummingbird they are so well known for? Maybe! No really, I mean literally maybe, I don't know if the bird I got a picture of is the Violet-crowned. But I guess you'll be able to judge for yourself soon, on this very blog.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird
Patton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, Arizona, USA
July 2019
Member of the Hummingbird Family
§A Glittering of Hummingbirds§

~true bird fact~ Can't walk or hop, like all Hummingbirds, his feet are just for perching. Early accounts of Hummingbirds speculated that they had no feet at all. You know blog reader *turns chair backwards in preparation of getting real with you* we've had fun with hummingbirds here on Amateurnithologist, but I feel like we've gotten off on the wrong (possibly non-existent) foot. Enough pretending that hummingbirds are bugs, or robots, or were invented by Tim Allen. We're going to dedicate some real time to hanging out with these extremely cool and highly specialized birds. That's why for the next month I'm rolling out a feature called Great Hummers of Late Summer and looking at a different bird each week. I will not be taking comments on the name of the feature.

Prideful
Nearly made it as an Olympic athlete, but some mysterious tragedy or circumstance prevented him from fulfilling his dream
Never appears to be feeling either too hot or too cold