If you’ve followed along with my blog for a while, you know that one of my all-time favorite bird is the hummingbird. They are cute, swift and very challenging to photograph.

Except for the occasional scout, they were a little late showing up to the garden this year. But finally, this past Monday we had an emerald green hummer land on our feeder.

As you might imagine, Hummingbirds get their name from the humming sound their wings make when in flight. They hover at rapid wing-flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species to 99 per second in small hummingbirds (source: Wikipedia).

The feathers on a hummingbird don’t come from a specific pigment. Instead, the top layer contains prism-like cells that reflect the light (source: Hummingbird Info). Look how shiny and multicolored this little guy is.

I’m a little rusty when it comes to capturing these cute garden fairies in flight. Normally, they fly at a speed of 25 – 30 miles per hour and when threatened they have a burst speed of 30 – 50 miles per hour (source: Hummingbird 101).

This was a lucky shot of this guy getting ready to leave the feeder.

I hope you enjoyed the fun facts about hummingbirds, today. Rest assured there will be more posts this summer of these beautiful creatures so stay tuned.

Until next time, have a great week and keep humming along.

~donna