The Hummingbirds of North America
Paul A. Johnsgard
Language: English
Pages: 314
ISBN: 1560987081
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Swift and iridescent, hummingbirds are found only in the New World, and encompass an amazing variety of specializations. No other family of birds can lay claim to so many superlatives, including smallest size, most rapid wingbeat, and most specialized plumages. While many species can be attracted to feeding stations and backyard flower gardens, others can be found only in the wild.
Paul A. Johnsgard's Hummingbirds of North America is the only book devoted to the identification, distribution, and biology -- both individual and comparative -- of all hummingbirds that breed in North America. First published in 1983, this acclaimed volume now has been revised and expanded to include twenty-five Mexican species, such as the long-billed starthroat and the fork-tailed emeralds, thereby more than doubling the species coverage of the original edition. Full species-by-species accounts survey the evolutionary history, anatomical and physiological specializations, and comparative ecology, behavior, and reproductive biology of this largest family of nonpasserine birds. Individual accounts are complemented by 24 full-color paintings.
Including updated range maps, identification keys, and a bibliography that has been broadened to include literature on the little-known Mexican species, the book is both accessible to amateur birders and an authoritative volume for ornithologists.
typical of many larger species of songbirds. Perhaps the birds’ elusive flight abilities, their small volume and correspondingly small target size, and also their seemingly unusually high intelligence all allow hummingbirds to live longer lives than biologists familiar with other groups would be likely to predict. Evolutionary and Ecological Relationships Mayr and Short (1970) suggested that this species might be more closely related to the ruby-throated superspecies than to any of the
Pileum. The crown of the head, from the forehead to the occiput. Pollination. The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same flower (self-pollination) or of another flower (cross-pollination). Polygamy. A mating system in which individuals of one sex maintain simultaneous or serial individualized contacts (pair-bonds) with two or more members of the opposite sex, to attain multiple fertilization; includes both polyandry (pairing with multiple males) and polygyny (pairing with
across the rump identify this as a coquette, and the whitish upper breast and unspotted flanks separate it from the black-crested coquette. In the field. This tiny hummingbird is readily identified by its whitish rump band and rufous forehead or crest, as well as its short, straight bill. The only other Mexican hummingbird with a continuous white rump band is the black-crested coquette, which is geographically separated from this species. Usually seen perched on twigs, it typically wags or pumps
including the “white-tailed” poliocera (cross-hatching), the “blue-capped” cyanophrys (hatched), and the nominate (“stripe-tailed”) eximia (inked). (Adapted from Howell and Webb, 1995) Weights An unsexed sample of 126 birds had a mean mass of 4.3 g (Brown and Bowers, 1985). The mean of 50 eximia males was 4.48 g; that of 31 females was 3.97 g (Feinsinger, 1976). Description (After Ridgway, 1911) Adult male. Upperparts and most underparts bright metallic green (but in cyanophrys the
it for more than a few seconds (Thompson, 1974). For almost two centuries we have known that hummingbirds feed at least in part on insects, although the actual proportion of animal foods in their diet continues to be debated. For one thing, nectar is very rapidly assimilated and thus is usually absent from the stomach contents of dead individuals. On the other hand, often their stomachs are almost entirely filled with minute insects and spiders, especially among the insect-adapted hermits and