Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are New World birds that constitute the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm (3–5 in) range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm bee hummingbird weighing less than a U.S. penny (2.5 g).

They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at high frequencies audible to humans. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 50 times per second, allowing them also to fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h; 34 mph), backwards.

Quotes
On the hottest summer night Hummingbirds fall all around us Their hearts stopped beating in mid-flight.
 * In my backyard in north Texas
 * Arcade Fire, "Asleep At The Wheel", B-Sides.


 * Across the downs a hummingbird Came dipping through the bowers, He pivoted on emptiness To scrutinize the flowers.
 * Nathalia Crane, "The First Reformer", Lava Lane and Other Poems (1925).


 * The male is colored much more gorgeously than the female so that he can be shot and made into feather embroidery.
 * Will Cuppy, "The Hummingbird", How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes (1931).


 * [Footnote:] Much still remains to be learned about his sex life because the Hummingbird is quicker than the eye.
 * Will Cuppy, "The Hummingbird", How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes (1931).


 * My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—equal seekers of sweetness.
 * Mary Oliver, "Messenger", Thirst (2006).


 * Hummingbirds, like all Neotropical migrants, don't recognize any borders, boundaries, or countries; they consider all of the Americas their home, nesting in the northern part of their range and wintering in the southern part.
 * Robert Sargent, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (1999), Chapter 1, (ISBN 0-8117-2688-6), p. 4

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

 * Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 381.


 * Jewelled coryphée With quivering wings like shielding gauze outspread.
 * Ednah Proctor Clarke, Humming-Bird.


 * Quick as a humming bird is my love, Dipping into the hearts of flowers— She darts so eagerly, swiftly, sweetly Dipping into the flowers of my heart.
 * James Oppenheim, Quick as a Humming Bird.


 * And the humming-bird that hung Like a jewel up among The tilted honeysuckle horns  They mesmerized and swung In the palpitating air,  Drowsed with odors strange and rare, And, with whispered laughter, slipped away And left him hanging there.
 * James Whitcomb Riley, The South Wind and the Sun.


 * A flash of harmless lightning, A mist of rainbow dyes, The burnished sunbeams brightening  From flower to flower he flies.
 * John Banister Tabb, Humming Bird.