This bird with gorgeous coat was seen by Europeans the first time when Spanish conquistadors conquered another Aztec town. In spite of the fact that this bird had strange appearance for Spaniards they finally decided to try it. The conquerors cooked it on a bonfire, then tried it and they were so enthused by the unusual taste of lean, slightly hardish meat. It is no surprise that several pairs of birds were brought by Spaniards for breeding to the Peninsula.
A swan has up to 25,000 feathers but a hummingbird has the fewest feathers of all birds – only about 1,000 feathers. But being so small, it has more feathers per square inch than most other birds.
A hummingbird beats its wings up to 80 times per second, flying at speeds up to 35 mph (56km/h). Its heart beats more than 1200 times per minute. Which means it needs a lot of food and liquid for energy. It eats up to half its own weight and drinks 8 times its weight in water each day. Its long tubular tongue licks nectar at 13 times a second.
The hummingbird is one of the smallest bird species and the only one that is known to be able to fly backwards.
The colibri (hummingbird) is a sacred symbol for the Taino Indians. It is sacred because the hummingbird is a pollinator and therefore disseminator of new life. It symbolizes the rebirth of the Taino Indigenous Nation in the Caribbean.
The bird is found on many Caribbean islands, but the most sacred species is the Guani, which 500 years ago inhabited all the islands, but today is confined to Cuba. Although the smallest of the Caribbean hummingbirds, only about the size of a penny, it is known by the mountain people as the most noble warrior of the valiant Colibris. In the Caribbean the Colibri is also called Zoom Zoom, Zumbador, Pajaro Mosca and Guacariga. It is greenish blue in color. The ancient Taino stories call him the Guaracacigaba or Guacariga, which means the "Rays of the Sun." They say that the Colibris at one time were flies that were one day converted into little birds by the Sun Father.
The final Curious @ phrase:
“There is no easy way to bathe a hummingbird”
( Kehlog Albran)
