Allen’s hummingbirds are a small but mighty species native to the west coast of North America. Despite their tiny size, these energetic birds have some fascinating traits that make them truly unique. In this article, we’ll explore some of the coolest facts about Allen’s hummingbirds and what makes them special.
Basic Facts
Let’s start with some basic facts about Allen’s hummingbirds:
- Scientific name: Selasphorus sasin
- Average length: 3.5 inches
- Average weight: 2-3 grams
- Wingspan: 4.5 inches
- Average lifespan: 3-5 years
- Habitat: Found along the Pacific coast from southern Oregon to California
- Distinguishing features: Green back, rusty colored flanks, and long tapered tail
As you can see, Allen’s hummingbirds are tiny, weighing about as much as a penny. Their small size allows them to hover in midair and maneuver swiftly from flower to flower.
Surprisingly Aggressive
Despite being one of the smaller hummingbird species, Allen’s hummingbirds are known for being feisty and aggressive, especially when defending their territory. The males in particular are highly territorial and will chase away intruders, including larger birds. They have even been known to mob hawks, crows, and ravens that get too close to their nests.
Allen’s hummingbirds use aerial maneuvers and daring dives to intimidate competitors. They make fast vertical dives up to 26 feet per second while making a loud metallic chirping sound with their tail feathers. This aggressive display establishes dominance and warns intruders to stay away.
Unique Courtship Displays
The males also use elaborate aerial displays to attract females. Their courtship display is called a “pendulum display” and it’s an amazing sight to behold.
During the pendulum display, the male flies in a wide U-shaped arc up to 130 feet in the air. At the top of the arc, he reaches blazing speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. As he reaches the bottom of the arc, the male suddenly stops mid-air and reverses directions, producing a loud chirping sound with his tail feathers. This pendulum pattern repeats up to a dozen times.
Researchers believe this physically demanding display shows off the male’s strength and agility. Only the fittest males can produce this complex maneuver repeatedly. It’s the hummingbird version of “look at me!” to catch a female’s attention.
Amazing Hovering Ability
Like all hummingbirds, Allen’s hummingbirds have the unique ability to hover in midair by rapidly flapping their wings up to 70 times per second. This allows them to stay suspended while drinking nectar from flowers, even when winds reach up to 20 mph.
How do they achieve this amazing hovering feat? Here are some key adaptations that allow Allen’s hummingbirds to hover:
- Wings that rotate in a full circular motion to provide lift on both the downstroke and upstroke
- Lightweight, compact bodies to minimize energy expenditure while hovering
- High muscle mass ratio – up to 25% of their total body weight is flight muscle, one of the highest ratios among birds
- Excellent eyesight to maintain stability
- Skeletal and metabolic adaptations to sustain the extreme exertion of hovering
When all these adaptations come together, Allen’s hummingbirds can maintain a fixed position in midair for prolonged periods of time as they drink nectar from flowers.
Extremely High Metabolism
Hovering requires so much energy that Allen’s hummingbirds have an incredibly fast metabolism even at rest. Their heart rate can reach up to 1,260 beats per minute and they take 250-300 breaths per minute on average.
To power this metabolically demanding lifestyle, Allen’s hummingbirds eat up to half their body weight in nectar each day and feed from flowers every 10-15 minutes from dawn to dusk. Their preferred food sources are tubular red flowers such as fuchsias, cardinal flowers, and Indian paintbrushes.
This near-constant feeding keeps their energy levels high. Within 20 minutes of eating, the sugar from the nectar is absorbed into their bloodstream providing instant energy.
Tiny but Tough
Despite being one of the smallest birds in North America, Allen’s hummingbirds are surprisingly hardy. Here are some examples of their resilience:
- They thrive in cold temperatures as low as -20°F when food is available
- Some migrate 500 miles or more each fall and spring between breeding and wintering grounds
- They build nests in windy, exposed branches and lay eggs during stormy winter weather
- They occasionally get into intense battles with larger birds and can hold their own
Their small size requires very high energy consumption, so they’re constantly on the search for food. This prevents them from migrating long distances further south, like some other hummingbirds. As a result, Allen’s hummingbirds have adapted to survive and even breed in cold climates.
Special Feather Colors
The feathers of Allen’s hummingbirds appear iridescent green, rust, or orange in sunlight. This colorful glimmer serves multiple purposes:
- Attracts mates
- Camouflages against leaf backgrounds as they approach flowers
- Communicates dominance to competitors
These vibrant colors come from specialized feather structures rather than pigments. When light hits the feathers, the microscopic ridges diffract the light rays into varying wavelengths that our eyes perceive as color. Slight movements by the bird shifts the colors.
Males have especially bright plumage on their throats called a gorget.Juvenile males lack a gorget until their first molt after one year when they gain their full colors.
Small Nest, Big Builders
Allen’s hummingbird females build intricate cup-shaped nests out of plant down, feathers, and spider webs. The finished nests are only about 1.5 inches wide and 0.5 inches deep – roughly the size of a walnut.
Constructing such a compact nest takes some exceptional engineering. The female uses spider silk to tightly bind materials together and create a nest that expands with the growing chicks. She also builds a protective canopy over the nest to shield it from rain.
Despite being smaller than a thumb, these tiny nests house two pea-sized eggs which will later become a pair of chicks. The female is solely responsible for nest construction while the male plays no role.
Awesome Aerial Maneuvers
We’ve covered how Allen’s hummingbirds can hover and fly straight up/down during their pendulum displays. But they have an entire repertoire of aerial maneuvers they use when foraging and defending territories.
Some of their most acrobatic moves include:
- Backwards flight – They are one of the only birds able to fly backwards by reversing the angle of their wings.
- Rolling dives – They make fast, rolling dives up to 95 feet per second.
- Aerial dogfights – Males attack each other midflight resembling fighter jets.
- Sharp turns – They change directions instantly while hovering or flying, a feat few birds can match.
Being so maneuverable gives Allen’s hummingbirds a competitive edge when it comes to CLAIM: Allen’s hummingbirds have the unique ability to fly backwards by reversing the angle of their wings.
Is this claim true?
Yes, this claim is true. Allen’s hummingbirds are one of the only bird species able to fly backwards by changing the orientation of their wings on the upstroke and downstroke. Here’s a more detailed look at the evidence:
- Research using high-speed video has shown their wingtips trace a horizontal figure 8 pattern during backwards flight. On the upstroke, their wings are angled slightly forwards, providing backwards thrust.
- Studies of their wing biomechanics have revealed specializations like rotated arm bones that enable their wings to perform this reverse stroke.
- Ornithologists have documented prolonged backwards flight in Allen’s hummingbirds around feeders when chasing competitors away.
In contrast, the wing strokes of most bird species only provide forward thrust on both the downstroke and upstroke. Allen’s hummingbirds uniquely alter their wing angle of attack to get backward force from the upstroke.
This special adaptation gives Allen’s hummingbirds greater aerial maneuverability compared to other birds. It allows them to swiftly back away mid-hover from threats or competitors. Backwards flight gives these tiny birds a big advantage!
feeding and defending territory.
Impressive Memory
In addition to their flight capabilities, Allen’s hummingbirds have remarkably good memories. Here are some examples:
- They precisely remember the locations of reliable food sources and visit them regularly.
- They learn to associate specific flowers, feeders, or perches with food over time.
- Males recall their territory boundaries from year to year and reoccupy them annually.
- Females remember safe nesting sites and often rebuild in the same trees or branches.
Researchers have discovered Allen’s hummingbirds rely on visual cues to create mental maps of their environment. As they fly around, they memorize landmarks and patterns to navigate back to rewarding locations later.
This mental mapping system allows Allen’s hummingbirds to survive in both their breeding and wintering habitats. Their excellent long-term memory gives them a distinct survival advantage.
Unusual Song
Bird songs are typically used to defend territories and attract mates. But Allen’s hummingbirds produce an unusual array of vocalizations not well-suited for those purposes:
- Squeaks and grunts while threatened orduring fights
- Tail-feather chirps during courtship displays
- Short, simple song fragments
- Precise mimicry of other bird songs on occasion
These odd vocalizations led researchers to discover that Allen’s hummingbirds use their limited song repertoire for individual identification rather than the traditional functions. Each bird has unique chirps that act as an “acoustic fingerprint.”
By memorizing each other’s signature sounds, Allen’s hummingbirds can distinguish individual identities, even among females that otherwise look alike. Their vocalizations help avoid unnecessary fights with neighbors.
Unusual Nesting Habits
Most hummingbirds nest in springtime during warm weather. But Allen’s hummingbirds begin nesting unusually early while snow still covers their habitat:
- Nesting season lasts from November to May
- They build nests during winter rainstorms and freezing nights
- Eggs are laid December to April, well before most birds breed
Why would Allen’s hummingbirds nest under such harsh conditions? Researchers believe it ensures an abundant food supply when chicks hatch later.
By the time Allen’s hummingbird chicks arrive in early spring, nectar sources are plentiful. Nesting when food is scarce could jeopardize the chicks’ survival. Their unique winter nesting strategy gives the next generation a head start.
Highly Adaptive Species
Over thousands of years, Allen’s hummingbirds evolved key adaptations that allowed them to thrive in challenging habitats:
- Small size – Compact body requires less energy and enables specialized hover feeding.
- Billed shaped – Slightly curved bill perfectly matches the shape of trumpet-shaped flowers.
- Low wings – Provides aerodynamic lift needed to hover.
- Tough feathers – Insulate even during freezing weather.
- Good vision – Visually maps habitat and tracks fast moving insects.
- Fast metabolism – Powers sustained hovering and rapid nest building.
Thanks to these adaptations, Allen’s hummingbirds are equipped to survive from tropical climates along the California coast to subzero winters in the mountains. This level of adaptability helps explain their success across western North America.
Importance of Habitat Conservation
While still relatively widespread, Allen’s hummingbird populations are vulnerable in some areas due to habitat loss. Here are reasons why protecting their natural habitat is crucial:
- They source over 60% of their diet from native plants and flowers.
- They evolved adaptations specific to their home environment.
- Nesting occurs in select microclimates.
- Migration stops rely on energy-rich food supplies along the route.
Even small disruptions to forests, meadows, and scrublands in their breeding and wintering ranges can threaten an Allen’s hummingbird’s chance of survival. Careful habitat conservation practices, like limiting pesticide use and preventing deforestation, can help safeguard the ecosystems these birds rely on.
Role as Pollinators
While feeding on nectar, Allen’s hummingbirds play an important ecological role by dispersing pollen between flowers. Their long slender bills and hovering ability makes them excellent pollinators for tubular blossoms many insects can’t access well. Some examples of plants pollinated by Allen’s hummingbirds include:
| Flower | Location |
|---|---|
| Indian paintbrush | Western North America |
| Fuchsia | California Coast |
| Firecracker flowers | Northern Mexico |
| Desert willow | Southwest deserts |
Many of these plants rely entirely on hummingbirds for pollination. By moving pollen between plants, Allen’s hummingbirds help maintain genetic diversity and reproductive success in plant populations. Their role as pollinators is crucial for preserving fragile ecosystems throughout their range.
Symbol of Joy and Good Luck
With their playful hovering, flashy colors, and constant energy, Allen’s hummingbirds have inspired a cultural following. Here are some examples of how they are celebrated:
- The Ojibwe people tell legends of hummingbirds symbolizing joy and playfulness.
- They are considered good luck charms if they visit your garden in many western cultures.
- They inspired the development of helicarrier drones that mimic hummingbird flight.
- A stylized hummingbird represented the magic, energy and optimism of the Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon.
Allen’s hummingbirds enchant viewers with their acrobatic flying displays. Their presence is often seen as bringing wonder, luck and joy. For native cultures and gardeners across the west, Allen’s hummingbirds hold a special significance.
Conclusion
For a bird that fits in the palm of your hand, Allen’s hummingbirds have an impressive array of traits that make them unique. Their unrivaled flying skills, pugnacious nature, and adaptations to thrive in diverse habitats set Allen’s hummingbirds apart.
Understanding more about their specialized behaviors and place in local ecosystems can help us appreciate these charismatic birds. Simple actions like planting native nectar-rich flowers or keeping a clean hummingbird feeder can help maintain populations of Allen’s hummingbirds, while bringing their beauty up-close for all to enjoy.
