Ben-ah
The Chubby Hummer
Think this female Ruby-throated is the chubbiest hummingbird I have seen. Well, she got all the flowers, different varieties and nectars she can feast on at NYBG (New York Botanical Garden).
All hummingbirds are small, and many are minute. Even the largest, the giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) of western South America, is only about 20 cm (8 inches) long, with a body weight of about 20 g (0.7 ounce), less than that of most sparrows.
Hummingbirds have compact, strongly muscled bodies and rather long, bladelike wings that, unlike the wings of other birds, articulate (connect) to the body only from the shoulder joint. The architecture of the wing permits hummingbirds to fly not only forward but also straight up and down, sideways, and backward and to hover in front of flowers as they obtain nectar and insects from them. The rate at which a hummingbird beats its wings is the same during directional and hovering flight.
The ruby-throated hummingbird has a wing-beat rate of about 70 per second in the male and about 50 per second in the female.
---britannica.com
The Chubby Hummer
Think this female Ruby-throated is the chubbiest hummingbird I have seen. Well, she got all the flowers, different varieties and nectars she can feast on at NYBG (New York Botanical Garden).
All hummingbirds are small, and many are minute. Even the largest, the giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) of western South America, is only about 20 cm (8 inches) long, with a body weight of about 20 g (0.7 ounce), less than that of most sparrows.
Hummingbirds have compact, strongly muscled bodies and rather long, bladelike wings that, unlike the wings of other birds, articulate (connect) to the body only from the shoulder joint. The architecture of the wing permits hummingbirds to fly not only forward but also straight up and down, sideways, and backward and to hover in front of flowers as they obtain nectar and insects from them. The rate at which a hummingbird beats its wings is the same during directional and hovering flight.
The ruby-throated hummingbird has a wing-beat rate of about 70 per second in the male and about 50 per second in the female.
---britannica.com