I know you aren't going to believe these photos. I know you are going to think that I must have supersaturated them using Photoshop. But really, these tiny little rufous hummingbirds really are this brilliant, this shiny, this sparkling, this absolutely fabulous!
Let me introduce to you the diminutive rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus). This bird is not found in some far-flung tropical rainforest, only reachable by canoe and tapir. Nope, this little beauty can be found quite easily by anyone living along the west coast of North America and down into Mexico.
A few things you really should know about rufous here:
- He weighs little more than a penny. She, perhaps a nickel.
- They don't just eat nectar - they get their protein by consuming many very small insects.
- Compared to their body size, their migration flight is the longest for any bird. Some travel all the way from Alaska down to overwinter in Mexico - approx. 80,000,000 times its own body length. This compares to about 50,000,000 by the arctic tern, which migrate from pole to pole.
- They are damn cute!!
These birds are incredibly feisty little firecrackers, ready to take on birds of any size, even buzzing the odd bird bander at times!
For more Macro Monday, go here.
P.S. I was going to title this post "A Real Hummdinger of a Photo!", but then I found out that there are other meanings of the word hummdinger ............. you look it up if you don't know, I am not going there!
