Janet Hunter, age 11, of Hutchinson, Kan., for her question:
ARE THERE MANY KINDS OF HUMMINGBIRDS?
Hummingbirds live only in the Western Hemisphere. There are more than 400 kinds of hummingbirds in the family, although only 19 kinds live in the United States and all but one are found in the Western and Southwestern states.
Included in the hummingbird family is the smallest bird in the world. Without feathers, the smallest of the hummingbirds are no larger than bumblebees.
Only a few of the birds are more than six inches long. The largest is the giant hummer, a native of the Andes Mountains of South America. It grows to be nine inches long.
The smallest is the bee hummingbird, native to Cuba. It grows about two inches long. The smallest hummingbird in the United States is the calliope hummingbird, native to the western mountain regions. It is about three inches long.
Hummingbirds get their names from the humming sound made by their wings, which move 60 to 70 times a second in the smallest species.
Some members of the hummingbird family are among the most brightly colored birds in the world. They have glittering patches of emerald green, deep violet, fiery red and glowing orange. They fly quickly and can dart upward, downward, backward or forward with great speed.
The long, slender bills of the hummingbirds are especially suited for sucking nectar from flowers, even the deep throated or trumpet shaped flowers such as the honeysuckle and trumpet flower.
The tongue of the tiny bird is also a useful tool for obtaining food from places difficult to reach. It is shaped like a long tube through which the birds suck the flower nectar.
Insects form an important part of the hummingbird's diet. The bird often finds insects inside the flowers, but it may also seize them while it hovers. Sometimes the hummer steals insects from spider webs. It also uses threads from the web to build its cottony nest.
One of the smallest and daintiest birds in the United States is the ruby throated hummingbird. It grows to be less than four inches long. It is the only hummingbird found east of the Mississippi River and north of Florida.
Both male and female have coats of brilliant metallic green feathers on the upper parts of their bodies. The male has a bright red throat while the female's throat is white.
The ruby throated hummingbird's nest is tiny. The female prefers a position high in the branches of a tree. There she builds her neat of shreds of bark, soft grass and bits of plant or cattail fluff. Often she covers the outside with lichens that blend so well with the background that a person hardly knows the nest is there.
During the nesting season, the male becomes very bold. He will often fight off enemies much larger than himself.
The mother bird usually lays two tiny white eggs about the size of navy beans. The young hatch in about two weeks. They have no feathers when they are born and they cannot see. But within three weeks they are fully feathered and strong enough to leave the nest.