Wings Of A Hummingbird

by Nava Thompson

Title

Wings Of A Hummingbird

Artist

Nava Thompson

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

This is a photo taken by Nava Jo Thompson of a Hummingbird with a lavender Rose of Sharon flower. It was taken in NW Arkansas. A friend had requested a Hummingbird from me because of a loss of a friend who loved Hummingbirds. Well--I had some--but nothing wonderful. I picked up the camera--and said, "God please help me!"---this is what I got that morning. She (Bonnie) gave all her friends one--and it was a very special gift for them because of the meaning of it for them......Hummingbirds drink nectar, a sweet liquid inside certain flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by preying on insects and spiders.....Most of the hummingbirds have bills that are long and straight or nearly so, but in some species the bill shape is adapted for specialized feeding. Thornbills have short, sharp bills adapted for feeding from flowers with short corollas and piercing the bases of longer ones. The Sicklebills' extremely decurved bills are adapted to extracting nectar from the curved corollas of flowers in the family Gesneriaceae. The bill of the Fiery-tailed Awlbill has an upturned tip, as in the Avocets. The male Tooth-billed Hummingbird has barracuda-like spikes at the tip of its long, straight bill......The two halves of a hummingbird's bill have a pronounced overlap, with the lower half (mandible) fitting tightly inside the upper half (maxilla). When hummingbirds feed on nectar, the bill is usually only opened slightly, allowing the tongue to dart out and into the interior of flowers......While it had been believed that hummingbirds drink via capillary action, high-speed photography has revealed that the hummingbird's tongue�s tubes open down their sides, and close around nectar.[5] Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy cost would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to twelve times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10�15% of their time feeding and 75�80% sitting and digesting.....Hummingbirds are typically very territorial when it comes to food; once a hummingbird finds a consistent source of food such as an artificial feeder, it will fight off other hummingbirds to maintain complete dominance over the food source.

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August 30th, 2012

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