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Of all the exotically named, bird species in Costa Rica,
the tiny hummingbirds beat all contenders.
Some of these exotic hummingbirds include: the Green
Crowned, Brilliant, the Purple-throated Mountain gem, Buffon's
Plummeteer and the bold and strikingly beautiful, Fiery throated
Hummingbird.
 
There are more than 300 species of New World
hummingbirds, of the family Trochilidae
(Costa Rica has 51species), and all are stunningly pretty.
The Fiery-throated Hummingbird,
for example, is glossy
green, with a shimmering iridescence at close range, it
has a dark blue tail, with a violet-blue breast, that sparkles
in the sunlight... with a fiery orange red throat and a brilliant
blue crown, touched by
velvety black, on the sides and back
of it's head.
Some male hummingbirds... have exotic plumage
and are
endowed with long streamer tails and iridescent mustaches,
beards and visors.
These tiny, humming
birds... are named because of the
hum
made, by the beat of their wings. At up to 100
beats per second,
the hummingbirds' wings move so quickly, that the naked eye
cannot detect
them.
Costa Rica Hummingbirds... can fly right, left, up, down,
backwards,
even upside down. A hummingbird's wing
is
flexible
at the shoulder, but inflexible at the wrist.
The tiny feet of
hummingbirds... are hardly ever used,
except for perching. Hummingbirds lift from perches,
without
pushing off; they rise entirely on their own power,
flapping their
wings, at almost full speed, before lifting off. Though they fly
very fast, they can suddenly stop and make a soft landing.
They
are so light, they do not build up much momentum.
Costa Rica Hummingbirds
are everywhere, hovering over
exotic tropical flowers and
flowering vines, from which they
extract nectar and gather insects with their long, hollow, and
extensile
tongues, forked at the tip. Alone, among all
other
birds, they can generate power, on both the forward and
backward wing strokes, a distinction,
that allows
them to
even fly backwards!
The energy required to
function, at such an intense
speed
is immense. The Costa Rica
hummingbird, has the highest
metabolic rate, per unit of body weight, in the avian world,
(its pulse rate, can exceed 1,200 beats a minute),
and
requires
tremendous amounts of
food.
At night, they go into
a type of "hibernation," lowering their
body temperatures and metabolism... to conserve energy.
Humming Birds of Costa Rica 2
Hummingbird Breeding, breeding
season, hummingbird territories,
communication, male humming birds, female
humming birds, mating,
nesting, hummingbird nests, baby hummingbirds.
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