ISBN 978-1-56145-588-1 $16.95 Children’s nonfiction / Nature Sill / Sill www.peachtree-online.com About AboutAbout HummingbirdsHummingbirds Hummingbirds Cathryn Sill, a A Guide for Children BOUT HUMMINGBIRDS is a A former elementary A thoughtful yet entertaining b school teacher, is b first glimpse into the world o the author of the o A of nature for young children. In this u acclaimed ABOUT… u t series and the t easy-to-read, informative follow-up to H ABOUT HABITATS H the other critically acclaimed books in u series. With her husband John and u her ABOUT… series, author and teacher m brother-in-law Ben Sill, she co authored m three popular bird-guide parodies, Cathryn Sill explains what hummingbirds m m including A FIELD GUIDE TO LITTLE-KNOWN are, how and where they live, and what i AND SELDOM-SEEN BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. i n they do. n g g With the help of beautifully detailed b b paintings from noted wildlife illustrator i i r r John Sill, this book explains the basic d d characteristics that all hummingbirds s s share, while offering a closer look into A Guide for Children many different kinds of hummingbirds— from the tiny Calliope Hummingbird of John Sill is a prize- winning and What do hummingbirds look like? western North America to the Great widely pub lish ed What do hummingbirds eat? Sapphirewing in the Andes Mountains wild life artist who of South America. An afterword provides illustrated both of Where do hummingbirds live? further detail to inspire young readers the ABOUT… series and illustrated to learn more about hummingbirds. and coauthored the FIELD GUIDES. A ABOUT HUMMINGBIRDS will accurately native of North Carolina, he holds a B.S. What is a hummingbird? Cathryn Sill answer the first questions of young in Wildlife Biology from North Carolina Illustrated by naturalists and charm readers with State University. The Sills live in ISBN 13: 978-1-56145-588-1 Franklin, North Carolina. ISBN 10: 1-56145-588-1 $16.95 the wonder and diversity of these John Sill fascinating birds. Jacket photos by Fred Eldredge, Creative Image Photography Printed in Singapore About Hummingbirds For the One who created hummingbirds. —Genesis 1:20 About Hummingbirds Published by PEACHTREE PUBLISHERS A Guide for Children 1700 Chattahoochee Avenue Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112 www.peachtree-online.com Text © 2011 by Cathryn P. Sill Illustrations © 2011 by John C. Sill All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Illustrations created in watercolor on archival quality 100% rag watercolor paper Cathryn Sill Text and titles set in Novarese from Adobe Systems Illustrated by John Sill Printed in January 2011 by Imago in Singapore 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sill, Cathryn P., 1953- About hummingbirds / written by Cathryn Sill ; illustrated by John Sill. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-56145-588-1 / 1-56145-588-1 1. Hummingbirds--Juvenile literature. I. Sill, John, ill. II. Title. QL696.A558S54 2011 598.7'64--dc22 2010051999 Hummingbirds are small birds that get food from flowers. PLATE 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird a. e. b. They have sharp narrow bills and long tongues that help them reach into blossoms for nectar. PLATE 2 a. Violet-crowned Hummingbird b. Purple-backed Thornbill c. Berylline Hummingbird d. d. Sword-billed Hummingbird e. Buff-tailed Sicklebill c. Hummingbirds also hunt and eat small insects and spiders. PLATE 3 Booted Racquet-tail They often fight over food. PLATE 4 Velvet-purple Coronet Hummingbirds are the only birds that fly forward, backward, sideways, and even upside down. PLATE 5 Broad-billed Hummingbird They can easily hover in one place. PLATE 6 Frilled Coquette Most hummingbirds cannot walk. Their feet are used for perching. PLATE 7 Horned Sungem All hummingbirds are small. Many are tiny. PLATE 8 Giant Hummingbird Bee Hummingbird Most male hummingbirds have bright shiny feathers that seem to change colors in different lights. PLATE 9 Magnificent Hummingbird Female hummingbirds usually have duller colored feathers. This helps them hide as they sit on their nests. PLATE 10 Blue-throated Hummingbird Mother hummingbirds build nests from materials such as twigs, leaves, down from plants, moss, lichens, and spiderwebs. PLATE 11 Buff-bellied Hummingbird Each lays two small white eggs and raises the chicks with no help from the father. PLATE 12 Anna’s Hummingbird Larger animals sometimes hunt for hummingbird nests and eat the eggs or chicks. PLATE 13 Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Also shown: Stellars Jay) Adult hummingbirds are usually fast enough to escape from predators. PLATE 14 Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Also shown: Eyelash Pit Viper) a. b. c. Hummingbirds live in different habitats. d. PLATE 15 a. Costa’s Hummingbird (desert) b. Calliope Hummingbird (mountain) c. White-tailed Goldenthroat (wetland, grassland) d. Crimson Topaz (forest) Some hummingbirds live in one area all year long. PLATE 16 Great Sapphirewing Others migrate long distances as the seasons change. PLATE 17 Rufous Hummingbird It is important to protect hummingbirds and the places where they live. PLATE 18 Black-breasted Puffleg Afterword PLATE 1 PLATE 4 There are more than 325 species of hummingbirds in the world. Hummingbirds need to eat large amounts because they burn so much Hummingbirds are found only in the Americas. Most hummingbirds live in energy. Most of them defend their food sources by chasing other birds away. the tropics. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds spend the winter in Mexico, in Two hummingbirds sometimes lock their bills as they fight in the air. This Central America, and on Caribbean islands. They migrate across the Gulf of can cause them to fall to the ground. Velvet-purple Coronets live in wet Mexico to North America in spring. Ruby-throats are the only hummingbirds mossy forests and forest borders on the western slope of the Andes that nest in eastern North America. Mountains in southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. PLATE 2 Hummingbirds have special forked tongues with fringed edges that help PLATE 5 them lap nectar from flowers. The size and shape of hummingbird bills Some hummingbirds beat their wings as fast as 80 times per second. They often match the flowers they feed on. Sword-billed Hummingbirds have are able to hold their wings in many different positions. Unlike other birds, the longest bills—up to 4 ½ inches (11.4 cm) long. They find food in large hummingbirds cannot fold their wings. The ability to flap their stiff wings up flowers in the Andes Mountains of South America. Purple-backed and down rapidly makes hummingbirds powerful fliers. Broad-billed Thornbills have the shortest bills and feed from smaller flowers in the Hummingbirds are native to the southwestern United States and central and Andes. Buff-tailed Sicklebills live in the eastern Andes. Violet-crowned western Mexico. Hummingbirds are found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Berylline Hummingbirds live in Mexico and Central America. PLATE 3 PLATE 6 Hummingbirds have two ways of hunting insects and spiders. They may Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover for long periods of time. swoop down to catch flying insects, using a method called “hawking.” They vigorously flap their wings forward and backward to stay in one place. Sometimes they gather insects and spiders from plants or spiderwebs. Hummingbirds have to be strong since hovering uses a lot of energy. Booted Racquet-tails are common in the cloud forests of South America, Frilled Coquettes live in the edges of forests in the lowlands of Brazil. from Columbia to Peru. They are often found on coffee plantations and around flower gardens. PLATE 7 PLATE 10 Most hummingbirds have small feet that are not strong enough for walking. The duller colors of female hummingbirds provide camouflage among the They use their feet to perch for long periods of time while resting or while leaves and twigs and help them hide from enemies. Most young male preening their feathers. Hummingbirds do not push with their feet when hummingbirds are protectively camouflaged like the females for the first they leave the perch. They take off by flapping their wings and flying. few months of their lives. Blue-throated Hummingbirds get their name Horned Sungems have feathers above and behind their eyes that look like from the patch of blue feathers on the throat of the male. The female has a horns. They live mainly in Brazil and Bolivia. plain gray throat. Blue-throated Hummingbirds live in the southwestern United States and Mexico. PLATE 8 PLATE 11 The smallest birds in the world are the Bee Hummingbirds. They are about Hummingbirds usually build nests in places that offer protection from 2 inches (5 cm) long. Bee Hummingbirds live in Cuba. Giant Hummingbirds direct sun and rain. Many hummingbirds cover the outside of their nests are the largest hummingbirds. They are around 8 inches (20–22 cm) long. with plant parts, moss, or lichen to make it harder for predators to find Giant Hummingbirds live in the Andes Mountains of South America. Their them. They hold their nests together with spiderwebs and line them with larger size helps them keep warm in the cooler mountain temperatures. soft materials such as plant down, animal fur, or feathers. Buff-bellied Female hummingbirds are usually bigger than males. Being larger makes it Hummingbirds build cup-shaped nests on small branches or forked twigs. easier for them to lay eggs and take care of their babies.