Hummingbird (1962)

Happ [Music] Once Upon a Time nature gave us the hummingbirds in relying on the written records of the scientific man for our information we soon learn that there are many kinds of them to date the count stands at 319 species and 656 forms of the world's bird population Hummers are strictly American they reside anywhere from the toe of South America with one species in Central America where most of them are to be found then in North America with fewer species up to Alaska with only one to the non-english-speaking people they are known as Peck or kiss the flower bird some call them rays of the sun others just plain fly siiz birds and as to why they are called zum zums murmurers or Hummers as we do let their WI Wings speak for [Music] us Whoever has seen any hummingbird primping himself especially after a bath can truly say that he has seen his wings but once these flying pinocchios are airborne this is the the utmost that our normal vision will ever do however with modern cinematographic equipment their flight Secrets have been probed for example in subjecting this obliging male Allen to our stroboscopic scrutiny or in taking one picture for every wing beat we can count 66 beats per second or about 1 million beats per every 4 hours of flight also with a special fast shutter or in using a very quick glance of each Wing beat in this case 113,000 of a second per glance we have eliminated the Wing's blurry effect when each stroke is photographed slightly ahead or behind the previous one it can be seen how the bird can hover or Propel himself in any direction by simply changing the tilt of the wings during their rotary or paddling motion be informed though that the amount of Strokes will change according to the bird's size in fact from the largest to the smallest spe see it differs from 8 to 80 Strokes per second respectively color on this ottoman's remark glittering fragments of the rainbow bestow these creatures royally where else in the world are there Birds whose feathers can vary so much in color as they change position in respect to the source of light you see in these birds the plumage color is not of the pigmentary kind such as these crayons nor colors of objects such as these but instead they are of an iridescent nature the result of light rays as reflected from a specially shaped glass or precious stone thus it is only when he moves that we can see the brilliant change of a dozen or so species which inhabit the United States one in the East and all others more toward the west only the cpti Anna does not migrate south although the birds are not easily seen while haunting The Oaks and eucalyptus trees and their native habitat of this California region the surrounding home gardens with their variety of flowers sooner or later become a sure attraction for these winged Chipmunks the nectar Laden Bloom is a primary choice but while sucking he will scoop up any small insect that shares in his taste for sweets now let us finally meet our calypte Anna first the female and star of our story then the male same size but distinguished from the female by the pronounced iridescence of his crown and gorgette talking about size you are correct in assuming that the Anna is comparatively a small bird how small well with curiosity plus an improvised scale and cooperation from our female Anna if she were made of nickel she would be just about 5 cents worth providing of course that she had a replenished stomach it was also our eagerness to know why our little Anna had decided to visit this place repeatedly that led us to discover her serious intent of wanting to answer the call of her maternal Instinct for at least 2 days she had already been working assiduously on the building of this nest and frankly we had never expected it why well we were in the dead of the middle of the winter season too early for nesting we thought but of course we were wrong as we learned later the nesting period for the kpti anas starts just before Christmas and lasts until the following August normally she makes more than one Nest during this [Music] period anyway with a bump here and a grind there things were slowly beginning to take shape [Music] the not too distant oak tree Grove became a source of many needs Moss one of the main ingredients was usually brought in in large quantity and diligently placed or sometimes woven with Twigs bits of grass small feathers threads hairs and whatnot which had been gathered elsewhere in a single day as we counted her round trips they amounted to 160 or an average of 1 every 3 minutes sometimes she would have to search a while before she would find what she was looking for in this case it was spider web which was being used to tie the Twigs moss and other things neatly together and to ensure that her future Nursery would remain well anchored in case a strong wind should ever [Music] come the lyen clinging to the oak tree branches became another item of challenge for her thrusting beak and although it is reported that they are placed around the nest for camouflaging purpose our belief is that they are used as BLS to absorb rain but one can even suspect that here a feminine impulse may just be giving in to a flare for [Music] ornaments contrary to some novice mothers who in practicing sometimes will work on their first nest for a few days lay one unfertilized egg then abandon everything in favor of starting stting a new one our Anna proves herself worthy of determination with dexterity at both ends how could she [Music] miss at this time we are 5 days into the construction project and exterior wise nearly finished but who can think of eggs or little birds without a soft bed to keep them in our Anna surely is no exception and for this she sees to it that a cotton string in her own backyard will be converted into something for that very purpose for who or what will dwell here it will be like laying on a cloud yes this is the male and if you too are wondering why he is more interested in gallivanting than in domestic affairs well let's just say there must be a reason you see by Nature the female is so much in love with everything in regard to the raising of The Brood that any bird male or female venturing close by will be fiercely chased away a comparison with an average sized nutshell now should be in order to show The Not So roomy interior even when the cup-shaped nest is nearly completed every morning as usual at the female's departure our job was to take a close look at things and low and be behold on the seventh day we were rewarded by the sight of a brand new hummingbird egg although during the day she kept close guard it was not until dusk that she came specifically to the nest in order to sit on the egg so that she could protect it from the cold of night on the ninth day or two days after the first egg had come our dear Anna presented us with her second and final egg during a nesting two eggs is about the right amount for hummingbirds having taken the precaution of attaching a string to a small Bean so we can now use it without molesting the eggs we can see how tiny these eggs actually are they are so small in fact that it makes one wonder if there is really anything in them perhaps this is far from being an ideal place of privacy for an ing hummingbird but newly introduced stationary objects such as ladders cameras and spotlights even if they should be turned on once they are inspected and found to be harmless they don't seem to bother our Anna anyway this time once securely back on the eggs the long incubating period is about to start there were times when perhaps she felt drowsy but during the day she never fell asleep in fact even at night as we would turn on the lights gradually she would wake up should she sleep too deeply now her body heat would drop too low the eggs would cool and spoil this didn't mean that she couldn't leave the nest on the contrary with an appetite for about 50 meals a day which is normal for hummingbirds she would leave the eggs exposed only for a short period but quite frequently and invariably at her return she would continue to bring in something to improve or to re force her home perhaps she knew somehow because the strong wind did come sure she was a little worried and so were we but the well-built nest could and did take the punishment then of course it rained however her only concern was to prevent the eggs from getting wet and cold [Music] on the 15th day with a light tickle to the mother's tummy she springing from The Nest then circling about for a short while a new baby hummingbird was slowly cracking his way into the world with the rejoicing flutter nearly over her immediate attention became directed toward the little fellow's welfare at this naturally baby's first reaction was to beg for food when none came back to the Shell he went however since mother knew best she wasn't about to let him have the upper hand and beside there was one more egg which for the time being needed tending it wasn't until 2 hours later that the mother had decided to introduce him to his first Earthly meal now this may not conform exactly with a child's pleasurable feeling of taking milk from a breast or a bottle's nipple but nonetheless her ways of transferring food from hers to the baby's stomach are carried out in a careful and safe manner in as much as the two egg were laid 2 days apart only one day after the first baby was born a wiggling second Little Hummingbird was finally putting an end to an incubating period of 16 days a period which according to the rules could have lasted anywhere from 12 to 18 days how about that the mother seems a bit surprised actually when she had left the nest her intent was only to feed herself and gather food for the first born and strangely enough the second baby didn't even receive the same treatment as the first one did but with Mother's next trip in with food this last arrival was quite determined to get some of that at least perhaps it wasn't right to let the older one get too far ahead of him and now you may ask why didn't the mother take the shells away why bother with every flight in or out the crumpled shells blow off the nest in tiny pieces when we said little ones we meant just that without having touched them our trick photography shows that one real bumblebee could occupy almost the same space required by the two small birds together but let's restore things and watch how the nestlings will grow [Music] the progression which they had gone through during the first week of real care was quite evident besides their growth their eyes were practically wide open [Music] up to the time that they were 2 weeks old the mother had come occasionally to sit gently Over The Brood but considering that everything was taking place within this limited space the best thing for her to do was to tuck the little ones in and come to the conclusion that three in a nutshell was not even for the birds right the mother was no longer staying with her brood at night either in fact for the first time in a month up in the oak trees she was finally able to resume her normal sleep incidentally hummingbirds do change their state of sleep when food is scarce or when it's too cold in order to survive at night they can even go into a state of hibernation we rigged up a thermometer to check these temperature changes but before we got too involved in figuring out where to take readings on a grown bird the logical thing was to rely on the unsuspecting nestlings we had already registered a low of 90° at night but when this was repeated in the daytime the readings reached a high of 102° a 12° change from high to low is quite amazing [Music] with every new day came a new [Music] discovery on their 17th day of life they were to experience the first real flying triy out coinciding more or less with the time when the iridescence of their Brothers was making its appearance it was actually new for them but they took to it in stride just as if they had expected it as for the mother we don't recall when and we had seen her happier [Music] at 3 weeks old They seized upon every opportunity to warm up the motors and in a few more days they were getting very suspicious and ready for any eventuality only one nestling was there to meet a us early in the morning of the 25th day the other was sitting on a fence a few feet above the nest the mother Naturally by now was doubly concerned if it wasn't for this spontaneous cry the mother would never find them once they changed Place likewise it's the mother's chirp that tells them of her presence by now the other one was gone too but don't worry mother would soon find him and when it happens refueling this time is done in [Music] flight for a spell everybody seems Happy Mama was resting and keeping a watchful eye on them while the well-fed youngsters were beginning to enjoy some Freedom by sticking their noses on everything around them but when mother returned she had some set plans for The Offspring she was to make them understand that they were to follow her how could she accomplish it well regardless of their cries the scheme was this no no food so in a few hours Time by having used convincing means of communication the mother had had her nestlings move step by step from two unsafe places spaced far apart and had them land safely and fairly close to each other on a nearby eucalyptus tree they were way up from us among the backlighted shimmering leaves when they received a well-deserved lunch and before they went even higher we saw the youngsters together for the last time for weeks we waited but once they had left the nest none of them returned [Music] then came the time to say goodbye to Mother Anna meantime up in the trees the young birds unconcerned about her departure were individually reaping the Harvest of her teachings like their ancestors they too were eventually drawn to the garden's blooms wasting no time and becoming expert stabbers even learning how to catch insects in Flight came natural to them on the evidence that one of them was turning out to be a male he became our only aim our attention was directed to his feathers because we had noticed that he had many new ones around his neck ready to come out within a few weeks sometime between the end of summer and The Fall season by having gone through the changing of the feathers our young bird had finally emerged a fully decorated male as for the life expectancy of this species the answer is yet unknown besides his unusual plumage his swiftness and minute size curiosity now came to rank high among his strange traits in investigating anything that showed any sign of color the reason perhaps was to to discover some new source of food on the basis of this would he respond favorably if we were to try to give him some in our preparations we used first one part of sugar to it we added about five parts of water then a dab of coloring for purpose of Attraction and when everything had been mixed into a palatable concoction it didn't take too long before he made a friendly approach of course he knew well that we would never catch him yes our Anna is among the few species that actually sing his is a modest chant and yet Charming for this girl who has taken stand to lure a temporary mate in order to assert his masculinity he must disperse intrusions however she is not about to wait for long so when he returns there is an animated search to relocator as it is is a wiser but not quite so spunky male has just moved in now none of that old man all guard this fancy pass is meant to hold her still a while so with his eyes fixed on her as not to lose a Target he now climbs slowly but higher and higher then as he is ready to come down in the precipitous dive which will end by sweeping close over the girl his tail feathers emit that whistling sound as this goes on more times let us tell you that occasionally a male will even dive on other birds but where 30 mph horizontal flight is tops for him in a dive for love the speed will reach 60 MPH everything he has to win her is on display she is convinced so up in the air they go where the actual mating will soon take place n