William A Calder, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Published online: November 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003432
The hummingbirds (of order Apodiformes) are very small birds, mostly with iridescent plumage. Their ‘wrist and hand’ wing articulation derives lift on both the up- and down-strokes, permitting stationary, upward and reverse hovering. They subsist on flower nectar, tree sap and small insects.
Keywords: Aves; Apodiformes; smallest birds; pollinators; nectarivores; coevolution; hovering flight; metabolism; energetics
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Figure 1. Male Costa¢s Hummingbird.
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| Further Reading | |
| book Calder WA (1999) "Hummingbirds in Rocky Mountain meadows". In: Able KP (ed.) Gatherings of Angels: Migrating Birds and Their Ecology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. | |
| Carpenter FL, Paton DC and Hixon MA (1983) Weight gain and adjustment of feeding territory size in migrant hummingbirds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 80: 7259–7263. | |
| book De Joyo J, Elliott A and Sargatal J (eds) (1999) Handbook of Birds of the World, vol. 5: Barn Owls to Hummingbirds. Barcelona: Lynx Editions. | |
| Greenewalt CH (1975) The flight of birds. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (new series) 65 (part 4): 1–67. | |
| book Greenewalt CH (1990) Hummingbirds. Mineola NY: Dover. [First published 1960.] | |
| Greenewalt CH, Brandt W and Friel DD (1960) Iridescent colors of hummingbird feathers. Journal of the Optical Society of America 50: 1005–1015. | |
| book Johnsgard P (1997) The Hummingbirds of North America, 2nd edn. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. | |
| Kingsolver JG and Daniels TL (1983) Mechanical determinants of nectar feeding strategy in hummingbirds: energetics, tongue morphology, and licking behavior. Oecologia 60: 214–226. | |
| López-Calleja MV, Bozinovic F and Martinez del Rio C (1997) Effects of sugar concentration on hummingbird feeding and energy use. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 118A: 1291–1299. | |
| McWhorter TJ and Martinez del RRo C (1999) Food ingestion and water turnover. I hummingbirds: how much dietary water is absorbed? Journal of Experimental Biology 202: 2851–2858. | |
| Miller SJ and Inouye DW (1983) Roles of the wing-whistle in the territorial behavior of male broad-tailed hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus). Animal Behaviour 31: 689–700. | |
| book Poole A and Gill F (eds) Birds of North America, numbers 16 (1992), 53 (1993), 134 and 135 (1994), 204, 221, 226, 251 (1996), 430 (1999) (other species in press). Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Science; Washington DC: American Ornithologists' Union. | |
| book Skutch AF (1973) The Life of the Hummingbird. New York: Crown. | |
| Suarez RK (1992) Hummingbird flight: sustaining the highest mass-specific metabolic rates among vertebrates. Experentia 48: 565–570. | |
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