Page created on : January 20, 2000
Last updated : August 29, 2004

There are few sights more serene than the hovering of an iridescent hummingbird in the sun-dappled corner of a flower garden. Delicate, purposeful and aeronautically gifted, hummingbirds are easily recognized by their small size, brilliant iridescent plumage and aerial stunts which include hovering and flying in reverse. In flight, their wings move so rapidly (about 2,000 times per minute) that they produce the humming from which these minute birds take their name.

Minute they may be, but lazy they're not. Weighing in at an average 3.3 grams per bird, these tiny creatures migrate annually between Canada and Central America!

Of the five species of hummingbird found in Canada, the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only specie seen from Alberta eastward. Although originally found only in forest and woodlands, hummingbirds are not shy of humans, frequenting flower gardens where they feed almost constantly upon nectar and tiny insects. Watching them in flight is a delight to all, especially around breeding time when the male puts on a speectacular performance during courtship, flying before the object of his affections in arcs ten metres wide as if suspended on a pendulum. When breeding is complete, the female lays two pea-sized eggs in a nest constructed of plants down, cobwebs and lichen saddled on a tree limb.