LYCOS RETRIEVER 
The Hummingbirds: Nectar
built 270 days ago
The Hummingbirds' bills are long and tapered to match perfectly with the tubular shaped blooms on which they like to feed. Their tongue is grooved on the sides to collect nectar which they lap up at the rate of 13 licks per second.
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Hummingbirds are amazing creatures with their daring aerobatics and duels in the air. The ruby-throated hummingbird is the only one that breeds in the eastern US. They arrive in the April when the first flush of spring flowers occurs. They will drink nectar from flowers like fire pinks, copper or red iris, Carolina pinks, columbine, phlox and beardtongue. They must eat 100% of their body weight each day to survive. They cannot smell well so fragrance doesn’t play a part in their selection of flowers.
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The idea behind his exclusive design is to provide the hummingbirds with an endless supply of fresh nectar. This is very important for attracting hummingbirds. You simply keep an extra supply of replenishment tubes, filled and ready to go in the refrigerator. That way when one tube is empty, you exchange it with a full tube of fresh nectar. No need to refill one tube at a time. When your back-up tubes are all empty, then clean, refill and start over again. You will have happy and healthy hummingbirds with this program.
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Hummingbirds breed during the season with peak nectar availability. Most hummingbirds build cup nests, but a few build domed or semi-domed nests that provide more protection than an open cup nest. Nest height ranges from a few centimeters above the ground to 10 to 30 meters. Nests are camouflaged with lichen, moss, dead leaves, bark, etc. and are held together with spider webs. They are sometimes lined with feathers, fur, hair, or plant down.
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The hummingbird's tongue and bill are perfectly adapted for obtaining its food. The bill is long and sharp and can plunge deep into the flowers or slash them open to get at the nectar. The tongue, which is extremely long, can be extended beyond the bill. (Hummingbirds and woodpeckers are the only birds that can do this.) The front part of the tongue is split, and the outer edges curl for part of the length to form two parallel tubes that are used like straws to suck nectar from the flowers. The outer edges are frayed like a brush to make it easier for the bird to gather insects.
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Only female hummingbirds are involved in parental care; they must incubate eggs, brood young hatchlings, and feed the chicks as nestlings and fledglings. Hummingbird chicks are altricial and stay in the nest for 23 to 26 days. When they first hatch, young hummingbirds have few feathers and cannot thermoregulate. The female must brood the young for 7 to 12 days until they can maintain their body temperature. Females feed nestlings nectar and arthropods approximately twice every hour. Fledglings are fed by the female for 18 to 25 days and gradually learn to forage by themselves.
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