Bumblebee hummingbirds are some of the smallest birds in the world, measuring only around 2-3 inches in length. Despite their tiny size, they have very high metabolisms and need to consume a significant amount of food each day to survive. Their primary diet consists of nectar, tree sap, and small insects.
Nectar
Nectar makes up the majority of a bumblebee hummingbird’s diet. They have specially adapted long, straw-like tongues that allow them to drink the nectar out of flowers. Their tongue is so long that when not in use, it wraps all the way around their skull under the skin. Bumblebee hummingbirds use their long tongue to reach nectar at the base of long tubular flowers. Some of their favorite nectar-producing flowers include:
- Fuchsia
- Columbine
- Honeysuckle
- Trumpet vine
- Salvia
Bumblebee hummingbirds have excellent color vision and are attracted to red, orange, and purple flowers. They remember which flowers replenish nectar fastest and will return to those plants frequently. As they drink nectar throughout the day, they also play a role in pollination. The nectar provides them with carbohydrates and sugars for energy.
Tree Sap
In addition to flower nectar, bumblebee hummingbirds will supplement their diet with tree sap. Their bill is perfectly adapted for piercing sap wells in trees. They use their tongue like a straw to suck the sap out of the tree. Favored sap producing trees include:
- Birch
- Maple
- Willow
- Alder
Tree sap provides an excellent source of sugars for these small birds. However, it does not provide all the nutrition they need. Tree sap is lower in essential proteins than flower nectar.
Insects
While nectar and sap make up the bulk of their food intake, bumblebee hummingbirds also need protein from insects. Some common insects eaten include:
- Gnats
- Fruit flies
- Aphids
- Thrips
- Mosquitoes
- Spiders
Insects provide these tiny birds with essential amino acids and fat. Without enough protein from insects in their diet, bumblebee hummingbirds would not thrive.
Bumblebee hummingbirds have some interesting adaptations that help them catch insects on the fly. They can beat their wings up to 93 times per second, allowing them to precisely maneuver in midair. Their eyes have special颜色 vision to detect ultraviolet light, helping them spot insects. They also have forked tongues that they flick out to capture insects.
How Much Food Do They Eat?
In order to power their buzzing wings and fast metabolism, bumblebee hummingbirds need to consume enormous quantities of food. Their daily intake equals two to three times their body weight. So a 3 gram hummingbird would eat around 6-9 grams of food daily. This would be roughly 300-500 flowers visits or ingesting hundreds of tiny insects.
A bumblebee hummingbird must eat every 10-15 minutes all day long to take in enough calories. If they go more than a few hours without eating, they risk starvation.
How Do They Feed?
Hummingbirds have evolved specialized ways to feed on nectar and sap. Here is how they eat:
- Use their long straw-like tongue to lap up nectar at the base of tubular flowers
- Lick sap from holes they make in tree bark using their tongues
- Catch tiny insects in midair by darting quickly
- Flick their forked tongue to trap insects
- Perch on branches and prey on insects
Their feeding style is uniquely adapted for accessing calorie-rich resources. Other birds do not have the anatomical tools such as an elongated tongue to feed on nectar or sap.
What Do Baby Hummingbirds Eat?
For the first week after hatching, baby hummingbirds are entirely dependent on their mother for food. The mother hummingbird will work tirelessly, visiting 1,000 flowers a day, to bring back enough nutrition to sustain her babies. She eats the nectar and insects first, then regurgitates it into the chicks’ mouths.
As they grow, the chicks gradually start supplementing the mother’s offerings by catching tiny insects like fungus gnats on their own. By two to three weeks old, they no longer need the mother’s nourishment and are adept at feeding themselves on nectar, sap, and insects.
What If a Hummingbird Cannot Find Food?
Hummingbirds have very high metabolisms. Their tiny bodies require huge amounts of energy to support their constant activity and rapid breathing. If a hummingbird cannot find enough food, it is at risk of going into torpor.
Torpor is a hibernation-like, deep sleep state hummingbirds can enter to conserve energy when starving. Their metabolic rate slows, heartbeat decreases, and body temperature drops significantly. Torpor is not safe for the bird to remain in for extended periods, but it can help preserve precious calories until they can eat again.
To avoid torpor when food is scarce, hummingbirds get aggressive about protecting nectar sources. They will chase competitor birds away. A starving hummingbird may also cling perilously to a feeder, unwilling to be budged. Providing a nectar feeder with sugar water can help tide hummingbirds over when flower nectar is limited.
Unique Adaptations for Feeding
Hummingbirds have many specialized adaptations that allow them to access food sources. These unique evolutionary features include:
- Needle-like bill perfect for piercing flowers
- Hinged skull allowing their long tongue to retract
- Tongue adapted for catching insects as well as drinking nectar
- Ability to see ultraviolet light, useful for spotting flowers and insects
- Wings capable of beating up to 200 times per second to hover and dart precisely
- High calorie demands requiring frequent feeding
- Light body weight supported by nectar and sap diets
- Sharp eyesight and color vision to identify food sources
- Excellent memory allowing them to regularly revisit productive flowers
These adaptations allow hummingbirds to thrive on diets heavy in carbohydrates and light in protein. No other birds share these unique evolutionary tools specialized for nectar and sap feeding.
Key Takeaways
The key points to understand about bumblebee hummingbird diet are:
- Their primary food source is flower nectar, especially from red tubular flowers
- Tree sap provides an supplemental source of energy
- Small insects are also essential to provide protein
- Their feeding style requires licking nectar with a long tongue or catching insects in midair
- They eat 2-3 times their body weight daily due to a rapid metabolism
- Babies are fed regurgitated nectar and insects by their mother
- Specialized adaptations like sight, tongue structure, and flight allow them to access food
Understanding the bumblebee hummingbird’s dietary needs and specialized feeding adaptations allows us to support these tiny, unique birds.
Conclusion
Bumblebee hummingbirds have evolved to thrive on a liquid diet heavy in flower nectar and tree sap. They supplement this sugary food source by catching protein-packed insects. Their unusual feeding style includes lapping nectar with a long tongue and plucking insects out of the air with precision flying. Staying adequately fed is a constant challenge for these tiny birds. Their survival depends on finding enough nectar-rich flowers and sap-oozing trees across seasons. Unique adaptations like color vision and hovering flight allow them to find food and fulfill their high calorie needs. Understanding the dietary specializations of bumblebee hummingbirds provides insight into their essential role as pollinators in ecosystems. With a varied diet of nectar, sap, and insects, bumblebee hummingbirds continue to be dazzling examples of evolutionary innovation.
