They are the smallest birds in nature, weighing less than a tenth of an ounce, with some 300 different varieties worldwide. When early Spanish explorers first encountered hummingbirds in the New World, they called them “joyas voladoras” or “flying jewels.” But the hummingbird is more than just beautiful.

• Super endurance – The ruby-throated hummingbird migrates at least 2,000 miles from its breeding grounds to its wintering grounds. On the way, it crosses the Gulf of Mexico (that’s 500 miles without rest). Not bad for a creature that weighs just an eighth of an ounce and is barely three inches long!
• Super flyer – Hummingbirds can fly backwards, forwards and sideways or can hover in midair like a helicopter – only much better! In most birds the up-stroke of the wing is just a recovery stroke to get the wing back into position for the next down-stroke. But the hummingbird has power in both strokes, up and down, and when hovering, back and forth. Its wings can also swivel in all directions from the shoulder and the wing is straight, without the elbow-like bend in the middle like other birds.
• Super Engine – A hovering hummingbird has an energy output per unit weight about TEN times that of a person running at nine miles per hour! Equally incredible is their heart rate. The heart beats 1,000 times a minute and they inhale some 250 times in the same period of time. Because of this high metabolic rate, they must feed almost constantly. If we were to operate at their energy level, our hearts would beat 1,260 times a minute, our body temperature would rise to 385C and we would burst into flames! Hummingbirds have the highest metabolic rate of any animal on Earth. To provide energy for flying, they must consume up to three times their body weight in food each day!
• Super feeder – The hummingbird needs an extremely efficient fuel. It obtains this “fuel” in the form of nectar from flowers. God has equipped the hummingbird with a needle-like bill which penetrates deep into flowers to extract nectar. If the corolla of the flower is too long, the bill can pierce it at the base to gain access. The hummingbird is also equipped with a long, specially designed tongue which is curled up at the edges to form two troughs (which look like a number 3 on its back) to hold the nectar. The long tongue curls up and retracts to the back of the head. The bird takes 13 licks per second. When the tongue retracts into the mouth the nectar is squeezed out into the throat.
• Super sleeper – They are one of a few smaller birds that “sleep”. When hummingbirds sleep, they go into a hibernation-like state called torpor. This is a really deep sleep. Their metabolism will lower to one-fifteenth (1/15) of normal. It takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour for a hummingbird to fully recover from torpor. Without this “sleep” the hummingbird would not be able to survive as they need to conserve energy.

There is no way that this tiny marvel of engineering did not have a designer. It is a wonder of God’s creation. The Psalmist says “This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvellous in our eyes”. (Psalm 118:23).

Categories: Animals