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52-953: A hummingbird is a member of a family (Trochilidae) of very small birds. Hummingbird or Humming bird may also refer to: Hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae . With approximately 366 species and 113 genera , they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego , but most species are found in Central and South America . As of 2024, 21 hummingbird species are listed as endangered or critically endangered , with numerous species declining in population. Hummingbirds have varied specialized characteristics to enable rapid, maneuverable flight: exceptional metabolic capacity , adaptations to high altitude, sensitive visual and communication abilities, and long-distance migration in some species. Among all birds, male hummingbirds have

104-606: A museum drawer in Stuttgart ; they had been unearthed in a clay pit at Wiesloch –Frauenweiler, south of Heidelberg , Germany , and, because hummingbirds were assumed to have never occurred outside the Americas, were not recognized to be hummingbirds until Mayr took a closer look at them. Fossils of birds not clearly assignable to either hummingbirds or a related extinct family, the Jungornithidae, have been found at

156-468: A female at speeds around 23 m/s (83 km/h; 51 mph). The sexes differ in feather coloration, with males having distinct brilliance and ornamentation of head, neck, wing, and breast feathers. The most typical feather ornament in males is the gorget – a bib-like iridescent neck-feather patch that changes brilliance with the viewing angle to attract females and warn male competitors away from territory. Hummingbirds begin mating when they are

208-402: A group of three digits which oppose one another to grasp branches in a pincer-like arrangement. This condition has been called zygodactyly or didactyly, but the specific arrangement in chameleons does not fit either definition. The feet of the front limbs in chameleons, for instance, are organized into a medial bundle of digits 1, 2 and 3, and a lateral bundle of digits 4 and 5, while the feet of

260-645: A high metabolic rate dependent on foraging for sugars from flower nectar. Hummingbird legs are short with feet having three toes pointing forward and one backward – the hallux . The toes of hummingbirds are formed as claws with ridged inner surfaces to aid gripping onto flower stems or petals. Hummingbirds do not walk on the ground or hop like most birds, but rather shuffle laterally and use their feet to grip while perching, preening feathers, or nest-building (by females), and during fights to grab feathers of opponents. Hummingbirds apply their legs as pistons for generating thrust upon taking flight, although

312-485: A high proportion of sucrose , whereas insect-pollinated flowers typically produce more concentrated nectars dominated by fructose and glucose . Dactyly#Anisodactyly Sometimes the suffix "-dactylia" is used. The derived adjectives end with "-dactyl" or "-dactylous." Pentadactyly (from Greek πέντε pénte "five") is the condition of having five digits on each limb. It is traditionally believed that all living tetrapods are descended from an ancestor with

364-401: A pentadactyl limb, although many species have now lost or transformed some or all of their digits by the process of evolution . However, this viewpoint was challenged by Stephen Jay Gould in his 1991 essay "Eight (or Fewer) Little Piggies," where he pointed out polydactyly in early tetrapods and described the specializations of digit reduction. Despite the individual variations listed below,

416-442: A small number of flower species. Even in the most specialized hummingbird–plant mutualisms, the number of food plant lineages of the individual hummingbird species increases with time. The bee hummingbird ( Mellisuga helenae ) – the world's smallest bird – evolved to dwarfism likely because it had to compete with long-billed hummingbirds having an advantage for nectar foraging from specialized flowers, consequently leading

468-469: A state similar to hibernation , and slow their metabolic rate to 1 ⁄ 15 of its normal rate. While most hummingbirds do not migrate , the rufous hummingbird has one of the longest migrations among birds, traveling twice per year between Alaska and Mexico , a distance of about 3,900 miles (6,300 km). Hummingbirds split from their sister group , the swifts and treeswifts , around 42 million years ago. The oldest known fossil hummingbird

520-406: A year old. Sex occurs over 3–5 seconds when the male joins its cloaca with the female's, passing sperm to fertilize the female's eggs. Hummingbird females build a nest resembling a small cup about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in diameter, commonly attached to a tree branch using spider webs, lichens , moss, and loose strings of plant fibers (image). Typically, two pea -shaped white eggs (image) –

572-782: Is Eurotrochilus , from the Rupelian Stage of Early Oligocene Europe. Hummingbirds are the smallest known and smallest living avian theropod dinosaurs . The iridescent colors and highly specialized feathers of many species (mainly in males) give some hummingbirds exotic common names, such as sun gem, fairy, woodstar, sapphire or sylph . Across the estimated 366 species, hummingbird weights range from as small as 2 grams (0.071 oz) to as large as 20 grams (0.71 oz). They have characteristic long, narrow beaks (bills) which may be straight (of varying lengths) or highly curved. The bee hummingbird – only 6 centimetres (2.4 in) long and weighing about 2 grams (0.071 oz) –

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624-595: Is common in songbirds and other perching birds , as well as hunting birds such as eagles , hawks , and falcons . This arrangement of digits helps with perching and/or climbing and clinging. This occurs in Passeriformes , Columbiformes , Falconiformes , Accipitriformes , Galliformes and a majority of other birds. Syndactyly, as it occurs in birds, is like anisodactyly, except that the third and fourth toes (the outer and middle forward-pointing toes), or three toes, are fused together almost to their claws, as in

676-794: Is due to convergent evolution . The hummingbird moth has flying and feeding characteristics similar to those of a hummingbird. Hummingbirds may be mistaken for hummingbird hawk-moths , which are large, flying insects with hovering capabilities, and exist only in Eurasia. Hummingbirds are restricted to the Americas from south central Alaska to Tierra del Fuego , including the Caribbean. The majority of species occur in tropical and subtropical Central and South America, but several species also breed in temperate climates and some hillstars occur even in alpine Andean highlands at altitudes up to 5,200 m (17,100 ft). The greatest species richness

728-412: Is found only in trogons , though the enantiornithean Dalingheornis might also have had this arrangement. Pamprodactyly is an arrangement in which all four toes point forward, outer toes (toe 1 and sometimes 4) often if not regularly reversible. It is a characteristic of swifts (Apodidae) and mousebirds (Coliiformes). The feet of chameleons are organized into bundles of a group of two and

780-419: Is greatest, possible ancestors of extant hummingbirds may have lived in parts of Europe and what is southern Russia today. As of 2023, 366 hummingbird species have been identified. They have been traditionally divided into two subfamilies : the hermits (subfamily Phaethornithinae) and the typical hummingbirds (subfamily Trochilinae , all the others). Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown, though, that

832-612: Is in humid tropical and subtropical forests of the northern Andes and adjacent foothills, but the number of species found in the Atlantic Forest , Central America or southern Mexico also far exceeds the number found in southern South America, the Caribbean islands, the United States, and Canada. While fewer than 25 different species of hummingbirds have been recorded from the United States and fewer than 10 from Canada and Chile each, Colombia alone has more than 160 and

884-594: Is the condition of having three digits on a limb, as in the rhinoceros and ancestors of the horse such as Protohippus and Hipparion . These all belong to the Perissodactyla . Some birds also have three toes, including emus , bustards , and quail . Didactyly (from Greek δι- di- 'two') or bidactyly is the condition of having two digits on each limb, as in the Hypertragulidae and two-toed sloth , Choloepus didactylus . In humans this name

936-508: Is the congenital absence of one or more central digits of the hands and feet. Consequently, it is a form of oligodactyly. News anchor Bree Walker is probably the best-known person with this condition, which affects about one in 91,000 people. It is conspicuously more common in the Vadoma in Zimbabwe . Clinodactyly is a medical term describing the curvature of a digit (a finger or toe) in

988-544: Is the world's smallest bird and smallest warm-blooded vertebrate . Hummingbirds have compact bodies with relatively long, bladelike wings having anatomical structure enabling helicopter -like flight in any direction, including the ability to hover. Particularly while hovering, the wing beats produce the humming sounds, which function to alert other birds. In some species, the tail feathers produce sounds used by males during courtship flying. Hummingbirds have extremely rapid wing-beats as high as 80 per second, supported by

1040-427: Is used for an abnormality in which the middle digits are missing, leaving only the thumb and fifth finger, or big and little toes. Cloven-hoofed mammals (such as deer, sheep and cattle – Artiodactyla ) have only two digits, as do ostriches . Monodactyly (from Greek μόνος monos- 'one') is the condition of having a single digit on a limb, as in modern horses and other equidae (though one study suggests that

1092-481: Is when a limb has more than the usual number of digits. This can be: Oligodactyly (from Greek ὀλιγο- oligo- 'few') is having too few digits when not caused by an amputation . It is sometimes incorrectly called hypodactyly or confused with aphalangia , the absence of the phalanx bone on one or (commonly) more digits. When all the digits on a hand or foot are absent, it is referred to as adactyly . Ectrodactyly , also known as split-hand malformation ,

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1144-557: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species in 2024, 8 hummingbird species are classified as critically endangered , 13 are endangered , 13 are vulnerable , and 20 species are near-threatened . Two species – the Brace's emerald ( Riccordia bracei ) and Caribbean emerald ( Riccordia elegans ) – have been declared extinct . Of the 15 species of North American hummingbirds that inhabit

1196-510: The Messel pit and in the Caucasus , dating from 35 to 40 million years ago; this indicates that the split between these two lineages indeed occurred around that time. The areas where these early fossils have been found had a climate quite similar to that of the northern Caribbean or southernmost China during that time. The biggest remaining mystery at present is what happened to hummingbirds in

1248-478: The belted kingfisher ( Megaceryle alcyon ). This is characteristic of Coraciiformes ( kingfishers , bee-eaters , rollers , and relatives). Zygodactyly (from Greek ζυγος , even-numbered) is an arrangement of digits in birds and chameleons, with two toes facing forward (digits 2 and 3) and two back (digits 1 and 4). This arrangement is most common in arboreal species, particularly those that climb tree trunks or clamber through foliage. Zygodactyly occurs in

1300-583: The cladogram below, the English names are those introduced in 1997. The scientific names are those introduced in 2013. Florisuginae – topazes Phaethornithinae – hermits Polytminae – mangoes Heliantheini – brilliants Lesbiini – coquettes Patagoninae – giants Lampornithini – mountain gems Mellisugini – bees Trochilini – emeralds While all hummingbirds depend on flower nectar to fuel their high metabolisms and hovering flight, coordinated changes in flower and bill shape stimulated

1352-423: The frog might be composed of remnants of digits II and IV, rendering horses as not truly monodactyl ) as well as sthenurine kangaroos. Functional monodactyly, where the weight is supported on only one of multiple toes, can also occur, as in the theropod dinosaur Vespersaurus . The pterosaur Nyctosaurus retained only the wing finger on the forelimb, rendering it also partially monodactyl. Among humans,

1404-456: The long-billed hermit , appear to be evolving a dagger -like weapon on the beak tip as a secondary sexual trait to defend mating areas . The Andes Mountains appear to be a particularly rich environment for hummingbird evolution because diversification occurred simultaneously with mountain uplift over the past 10 million years. Hummingbirds remain in dynamic diversification inhabiting ecological regions across South America, North America, and

1456-411: The ornithophilous flowers upon which they feed. This coevolution implies that morphological traits of hummingbirds, such as bill length, bill curvature, and body mass, are correlated with morphological traits of plants, such as corolla length, curvature, and volume. Some species, especially those with unusual bill shapes, such as the sword-billed hummingbird and the sicklebills , are coevolved with

1508-479: The parrots , woodpeckers (including flickers ), cuckoos (including roadrunners ), and some owls . Zygodactyl tracks have been found dating to 120–110 million years ago (early Cretaceous ), 50 million years before the first identified zygodactyl fossils. All Psittaciformes , Cuculiformes , the majority of Piciformes and the osprey are zygodactyl. Heterodactyly is like zygodactyly, except that digits 3 and 4 point forward and digits 1 and 2 point back. This

1560-458: The Caribbean, indicating an enlarging evolutionary radiation . Within the same geographic region, hummingbird clades coevolved with nectar-bearing plant clades, affecting mechanisms of pollination . The same is true for the sword-billed hummingbird ( Ensifera ensifera ), one of the morphologically most extreme species, and one of its main food plant clades ( Passiflora section Tacsonia ). Hummingbirds are specialized nectarivores tied to

1612-399: The United States and Canada indicate that the ruby-throated hummingbird numbers are around 34 million, rufous hummingbirds are around 19 million, black-chinned , Anna's , and broad-tailed hummingbirds are about 8 million each, calliopes at 4 million, and Costa's and Allen's hummingbirds are around 2 million each. Several species exist only in the thousands or hundreds. According to

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1664-428: The United States and Canada, several have changed their range of distribution, while others showed declines in numbers since the 1970s, including in 2023 with dozens of hummingbird species in decline. As of the 21st century, rufous, Costa's, calliope, broad-tailed, and Allen's hummingbirds are in significant decline, some losing as much as 67% of their numbers since 1970 at nearly double the rate of population loss over

1716-669: The bee hummingbird to more successfully compete for flower foraging against insects. Many plants pollinated by hummingbirds produce flowers in shades of red, orange, and bright pink, although the birds take nectar from flowers of other colors. Hummingbirds can see wavelengths into the near- ultraviolet , but hummingbird-pollinated flowers do not reflect these wavelengths as many insect-pollinated flowers do. This narrow color spectrum may render hummingbird-pollinated flowers relatively inconspicuous to most insects, thereby reducing nectar robbing . Hummingbird-pollinated flowers also produce relatively weak nectar (averaging 25% sugars) containing

1768-753: The comparably small Ecuador has about 130 species. The family Trochilidae was introduced in 1825 by Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors with Trochilus as the type genus . In traditional taxonomy , hummingbirds are placed in the order Apodiformes , which also contains the swifts , but some taxonomists have separated them into their own order, the Trochiliformes. Hummingbirds' wing bones are hollow and fragile, making fossilization difficult and leaving their evolutionary history poorly documented. Though scientists theorize that hummingbirds originated in South America, where species diversity

1820-421: The earliest species of hummingbird occurred in the early Oligocene ( Rupelian about 34–28 million years ago) of Europe, belonging to the genus Eurotrochilus, having similar morphology to modern hummingbirds. A phylogenetic tree unequivocally indicates that modern hummingbirds originated in South America, with the last common ancestor of all living hummingbirds living around 22 million years ago. A map of

1872-497: The formation of new species of hummingbirds and plants. Due to this exceptional evolutionary pattern, as many as 140 hummingbird species can coexist in a specific region, such as the Andes range . The hummingbird evolutionary tree shows that one key evolutionary factor appears to have been an altered taste receptor that enabled hummingbirds to seek nectar. Upon maturity, males of a particular species, Phaethornis longirostris,

1924-462: The hermits are sister to the topazes , making the former definition of the Trochilinae not monophyletic . The hummingbirds form nine major clades : the topazes and jacobins , the hermits, the mangoes , the coquettes , the brilliants , the giant hummingbird ( Patagona gigas ), the mountaingems , the bees , and the emeralds . The topazes and jacobins combined have the oldest split with

1976-464: The hind limbs are organized into a medial bundle of digits 1 and 2, and a lateral bundle of digits 3, 4 and 5. On the other hand, zygodactyly involves digits 1 and 4 opposing digits 2 and 3, which is an arrangement that chameleons do not exhibit in either front or hind limbs. In many secondarily aquatic vertebrates , the non-bony tissues of the forelimbs and/or hindlimbs are fused into a single flipper . Some remnant of each digit generally remains under

2028-455: The humming sound created by their beating wings , which flap at high frequencies audible to other birds and humans. They hover at rapid wing-flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species to 80 per second in small hummingbirds. Hummingbirds have the highest mass-specific metabolic rate of any homeothermic animal. To conserve energy when food is scarce and at night when not foraging, they can enter torpor ,

2080-464: The hummingbird family tree – reconstructed from analysis of 284 species – shows rapid diversification from 22 million years ago. Hummingbirds fall into nine main clades – the topazes , hermits , mangoes , brilliants , coquettes , the giant hummingbird, mountaingems , bees , and emeralds – defining their relationship to nectar -bearing flowering plants which attract hummingbirds into new geographic areas. Molecular phylogenetic studies of

2132-554: The hummingbirds have shown that the family is composed of nine major clades. When Edward Dickinson and James Van Remsen Jr. updated the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World for the 4th edition in 2013, they divided the hummingbirds into six subfamilies. Molecular phylogenetic studies determined the relationships between the major groups of hummingbirds. In

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2184-470: The plane of the palm, most commonly the fifth finger (the "little finger") towards the adjacent fourth finger (the "ring finger"). It is a fairly common isolated anomaly which often goes unnoticed, but also occurs in combination with other abnormalities in certain genetic syndromes, such as Down syndrome , Turner syndrome and Cornelia de Lange syndrome . Anisodactyly is the most common arrangement of digits in birds, with three toes forward and one back. This

2236-788: The previous 50 years. The ruby-throated hummingbird population – the most populous North American hummingbird – decreased by 17% over the early 21st century. Habitat loss, glass collisions, cat predation, pesticides , and possibly climate change affecting food availability, migration signals, and breeding are factors that may contribute to declining hummingbird numbers. By contrast, Anna's hummingbirds had large population growth at an accelerating rate since 2010, and expanded their range northward to reside year-round in cold winter climates. Some species of sunbirds — an Old World group restricted in distribution to Eurasia , Africa, and Australia — resemble hummingbirds in appearance and behavior, but are not related to hummingbirds, as their resemblance

2288-511: The relationship is to the original five-digit model. In reptiles, the limbs are pentadactylous. Dogs have tetradactylous paws but the dewclaw makes them pentadactyls. Cats also have dewclaws on their front limbs but not their hind limbs, making them both pentadactyls and tetradactyls. Tetradactyly (from Greek τετρα tetra 'four') is the condition of having four digits on a limb, as in many birds , amphibians , and theropod dinosaurs . Tridactyly (from Greek τρία tría 'three')

2340-796: The rest of the hummingbirds. The hummingbird family has the third-greatest number of species of any bird family (after the tyrant flycatchers and the tanagers ). Fossil hummingbirds are known from the Pleistocene of Brazil and the Bahamas , but neither has yet been scientifically described, and fossils and subfossils of a few extant species are known. Until recently, older fossils had not been securely identifiable as those of hummingbirds. In 2004, Gerald Mayr identified two 30-million-year-old hummingbird fossils. The fossils of this primitive hummingbird species, named Eurotrochilus inexpectatus ("unexpected European hummingbird"), had been sitting in

2392-485: The roughly 25 million years between the primitive Eurotrochilus and the modern fossils. The astounding morphological adaptations , the decrease in size, and the dispersal to the Americas and extinction in Eurasia all occurred during this timespan. DNA–DNA hybridization results suggest that the main radiation of South American hummingbirds took place at least partly in the Miocene , some 12 to 13 million years ago, during

2444-442: The shortness of their legs provides about 20% less propulsion than assessed in other birds. During flight, hummingbird feet are tucked up under the body, enabling optimal aerodynamics and maneuverability. Of those species that have been measured during flight, the top flight speeds of hummingbirds exceed 15 m/s (54 km/h; 34 mph). During courtship , some male species dive from 30 metres (100 ft) of height above

2496-556: The smallest of any bird – are incubated over 2–3 weeks in breeding season. Fed by regurgitation only from the mother, the chicks fledge about 3 weeks after hatching. The average lifespan of a ruby-throated hummingbird is estimated to be 3–5 years, with most deaths occurring in yearlings, although one banded ruby-throated hummingbird lived for 9 years and 2 months. Bee hummingbirds live 7–10 years. Although most hummingbird species live in remote habitats where their population numbers are difficult to assess, population studies in

2548-630: The soft tissue of the flipper, though digit reduction gradually occurs such as in baleen whales ( mysticeti ). Marine mammals evolving flippers represents a classic example of convergent evolution , and by some analyses, parallel evolution . Full webbing of the digits in the manus and/or pes is present in a number of aquatic tetrapods. Such animals include marine mammals ( cetaceans , sirenians , and pinnipeds ), marine reptiles (modern sea turtles and extinct ichthyosaurs , mosasaurs , plesiosaurs , metriorhynchids ), and flightless aquatic birds such as penguins . Hyperphalangy, or an increase in

2600-458: The term "five-fingered hand" is sometimes used to mean the abnormality of having five fingers, none of which is a thumb. Syndactyly (from Greek συν- syn 'together') is a condition where two or more digits are fused together. It occurs normally in some mammals , such as the siamang and most diprotodontid marsupials such as kangaroos . It occurs as an unusual condition in humans. Polydactyly (from Greek πολυ- poly- 'many')

2652-539: The uplifting of the northern Andes . In 2013, a 50-million-year-old bird fossil unearthed in Wyoming was found to be a predecessor to hummingbirds and swifts before the groups diverged. Hummingbirds split from other members of Apodiformes, the insectivorous swifts (family Apodidae) and treeswifts (family Hemiprocnidae), about 42 million years ago, probably in Eurasia . Despite their current New World distribution,

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2704-574: The widest diversity of plumage color, particularly in blues, greens, and purples. Hummingbirds are the smallest mature birds, measuring 7.5–13 cm (3–5 in) in length. The smallest is the 5 cm (2.0 in) bee hummingbird , which weighs less than 2.0 g (0.07 oz), and the largest is the 23 cm (9 in) giant hummingbird , weighing 18–24 grams (0.63–0.85 oz). Noted for long beaks , hummingbirds are specialized for feeding on flower nectar , but all species also consume small insects. They are known as hummingbirds because of

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