they are small but they are rather active, iirc they burn more calories of food per gram of critter than most., about ten times the rate of an active human
is it about 250 bpm for breathing and 1200 for heart rate? 50 wing beats a second
that is living fast so how little they eat is what strikes me as really special, considering what they can do they are quite efficient in a fast jet or racing car sort of way.
they dont seem to have invaded the uk and i don't recall them in mainland europe but we do have a few in " zoo " type bird and butterfly houses.
I think it is too cold for them here Dpack, but as you say, they have to eat a lot for their size to keep going at that rate. I don't think I have ever seen one in real life, but they look beautiful on TV.
sean Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 42208 Location: North Devon
Posted: Sun Jul 21, 19 6:34 pm Post subject:
We've got voles!
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2507 Location: New Jersey, USA
Posted: Mon Jul 22, 19 1:50 am Post subject:
It's not the temperature. I don't think there is any way for hummingbirds to reach you, Mistress Rose. The ruby throat hummingbirds that summer in New Jersey fly down to Mexico / Central America for the winter. Return in the late spring. Both times have to fly non-stop over the Gulf of Mexico. There are a few other species on the west coast - Arizona, California. No way any of them can cross the ocean.
No, and they are not kept as pets very much either, so no chance of escapees. There are some good colonies of parakeets in odd places in the UK and they come from Australia I think, so they must be escapees, or ones let loose as they couldn't fly from Aus either.
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2507 Location: New Jersey, USA
Posted: Mon Jul 22, 19 1:27 pm Post subject:
We have starlings, quite large flocks of them in the winter, because some lunatic man wanted all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare to be here in the USA. He released a number of them in Central Park in the 19th century.
Not quite sure how house sparrows (aka English sparrows) got here but they are also an import. They did better before the changeover from horses to automobiles.
Then there's the house finch, or is it purple finch - not sure which species but from its western / California native range a few were released from a New York City pet store and they are now very well established over a huge range.
Monk parakeets are well established in New York City and elsewhere you would not expect them to survive, let alone thrive.
https://wildparrotsny.com/index/home.html
Huge colony nests on power poles to the dismay and upset of the electric companies. Major kerfuffles as they want the nests removed (along with birds) and the bird lovers push back.
the shakespear fan changed the avian fauna of the usa big style with various consequences to other flora and fauna
invasive spp or an evolutionary forcing?
as an ethical question i really don't know what to think, we could probably do without grey squirrels but they seem to be suited to the place etc
as a fossil fan i would favour the latter and consider the modern human to be in the same category as the kt boundary asteroid or the permian temp and chem glitch as a forcing of change via extinctions
We could definitely do without grey squirrels Dpack. They do a lot of damage to trees which can weaken and kill them, or cause limbs to fall. We often find a fallen branch with marks indicating originally a squirrel chewed the top, then rot set in and the branch fell some years later. We see gnaw marks on trees at a height that only squirrels can cause (deer don't get 10up a tree in a branch crutch), and they will also bark strip very badly, again far too high for it to be deer.
I can understand your power companies having trouble with the parakeets Jam Lady. They could cause flashover on higher voltage power lines, and must make maintenance difficult. Not sure what will happen if our semi-resident peregrine in the pylon near home objects to work on the tower.
this afternoon i got to see something rather special and rather creepy.
i noticed movement on the compost of my lavender in a huge pot, what it was puzzled me.
what it was , a very small parasitic wasp riding a brownish beetle 3 times it's size
digging into the compost.
as far as i could tell the wasp was riding it with a neck grip/bareback style leg grip and using the thrashing legs to dig. i do not know if stinging was involved ( it was not fighting and might well have been "subdued " before i saw them) but it's leggs were pretty frisky and the combo dug quite fast, waspy was definitely controlling the poor thing/yummy snack for the kids and i assume they kept going down until waspy was happy with the nursery.
beautiful and grim.
this is why i need a decent camera hanging round my neck when i am out there unless im being messy, planning a studio style shoot for that sort of moment would be rather tricky but to grab it when it presents just needs kit, some good presets, luck/observation and pap em when they are not looking
I have been seeing a rather pretty blue flower around, mainly at roadside and other odd places with wild flowers on open ground lately, and couldn't remember what it was. Finally came to me, and I just checked it; chicory. If you see it it is a tall spike with very pretty blue aster like flowers. In flower now.
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2507 Location: New Jersey, USA
Posted: Thu Jul 25, 19 7:15 pm Post subject:
Not a hummingbird but rather a hummingbird moth
Convergent evolution - just like hummingbirds and bats they hover to feed on nectar in flowers.