Those cats. They're everywhere. Spencer think he can catch hummingbirds.The little birds cannot walk or hop. So they are safe zooming along in the sky.
They're like speeding bullets.(Just eat your treat, Spencer.) He watches the feathers shine in the daylight. Fascinating. The feathers look iridescent because of the arrangement of the feathers, light and moisture.
Hummingbirds have 1000 to 1500 feathers. The fewest of any birds in the world.
I think what perplexes Spencer and Smokey is that the hummingbird flies up to 30 km an hour, and in a dive reaches speeds of up to 60 km. Enough to terrify any cat.
Some hummingbirds come from way across the water. Others winter here. They must consume half their body weight ever day to survive.They usually feed 5-8 times an hour.
The Rufous hummingbird, in these photos, has the longest migration of all the hummingbirds.It will travel over 3000 miles from Alaska to winter in Mexico. Such a long way.
No wonder Spencer is so excited when he sees them darting. The Ruby Thoated hummingbird can travel up to 500 miles in its migration patterns. And to think that the myriad of neighbours cats only migrate from two or three houses down.
These hummingbirds prove every day that they are territorial. Dive bombing cats, humans, crows, hawks, whatever stands in its way.
Of course our indoor cats have no idea what a hummingbird is........they just want their dinner from a can.
And then there's Cordelia. Asleep on on of the Moai heads. Snoozing away.She's missing all the excitement. She's missing all the fun. Missing the sight of hummingbirds zooming above her head. Hummingbirds are native to the New World, and are not found outside of the western hemisphere.
And so, at the end of the day, the neighbours cats congregate on my porch. Probably waiting for the night time hummingbird show. Listening to the flap of wings at 50-200 beats per minute. The beat of a hummingbird heart, which is about 1200 beats per minute. And those little tiny breaths at 250 beats per minute. Its the best show in town.................
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