Hummingbirds are too small to be preserved as fossils, and their evolutionary history remains a mystery. It is also the smallest warm-blooded animal in the world. The body length is about 5.6 to 6.5 cm, including the length of the mouth and tail feathers. Usually, the mouth and tail feathers will account for about half of the whole body length.
Adult females have blue-green upper body feathers, white or light gray lower body feathers, and white wing tips of side tail feathers. Females are slightly larger than males. In the non-breeding season, there is little difference in color between male and female birds. The male's upper body feathers are dyed blue, and the tip of the outer tail feathers is black with blue spots. It mainly inhabits mature forests and forest margins with dense shrubs, vines and epiphytes nearby, and also moves in valleys, gardens and swamps, most commonly in open fields.
Life habits of hummingbirds:
1, feeding habits: find and actively protect high-quality food sources. The males divide the foraging area to drive away other males and large insects, such as bumblebees and moths, that intrude into the territory. Feeding on nectar of various flowers, especially plants with sucrose concentration as high as 15% to 30%, first hover horizontally above the flowers, insert their beaks into the flowers, and sip nectar with their long tongues. They also eat small spiders and insects and often prey on night flights. Female birds in nesting period can catch more than 2000 insects every day.
2. Flying: Although it is very thin, it can vibrate its wings about 80 times per second in a figure of eight. It can fly back and forth very nimbly and hover in the air. When courting and showing off, the frequency of flapping wings reaches 200 times per second. ?
3. Singing: A high-pitched singing composed of various simple single-tone repetitions, each lasting less than one second, and sounding like a "squeak, chirp" sound. The monotony of singing sequence will be different among males in different courtship locations.