Hover-Worthy Facts:
- Males have all-black heads, but when the sun hits their throat, a beautiful, bright purple stripe flashes underneath!
- Females use spiderwebs and soft plant fuzz to build their nests. The spiderwebs let the nest stretch bigger as the babies grow!
- These birds beat their wings about 50 times every single second, creating a quiet humming sound as they zoom through the air.
- Their super long, split tongue licks nectar at an incredible rate of 13 to 17 licks per second!
- To keep their eggs safe from big birds, moms cover the outside of their tiny nests with dead leaves and bud scales so they look just like a tree branch.
- They eat bugs for breakfast. Nectar gives them energy, but they also snatch tiny flies, ants, and spiders right out of the air to get strong and healthy.
- Even though they are lighter than a nickel, they fly thousands of miles every single autumn to spend the cold winter in sunny New Mexico.
PLANT PARTNERS
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High Desert Helpers is sponsored through the Trails+ Grant Program by the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division.
