 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
| y |
 |
| A Rainbow of Feathers Hummingbirds come in all colors of the rainbow; some of their feathers actually change color as they move in the light. Hummingbird names such as green-crowned comet, sapphire-vented puffleg, and ruby-throated hummingbird describe their beautiful fancy feathers. In the mid-1800s, hundreds of thousands of hummingbirds were killed for their feathers and some almost became extinct. Luckily, people today realize that the feathers look much better on the birds! |
 |
| When it comes to flying, nobody does it better than a hummingbird. Like a helicopter, it can go up, down, sideways, backwards, even upside down! This is because most of its wing is made of hand bones instead of arm bones like other birds. Hummingbirds also have muscles that power both the up and down stroke instead of just the down stroke as in other birds. They can beat their wings up to 200 times per minute. Hummingbirds are such good fliers that most of them never walk as far as two inches (51 millimeters). |
 |
 |
| See how tiny this Humming Bird is! it's on top of a pencil. And look at this one on a penny. Now that's tiny... |