Colombia Part 10 - Hiking and Feeding Hummingbirds in the middle of the impressive Flora of Montanitas (Fotos + Videos)

While living with Leticia at the ochids farm, I also met another friend again: Sebastián.

He invited me for a hike to visit a hummingbird farm where we would see 250 different species of that bird.

On our way we walked through an interesting vegetation. I saw a lot of giant trees and plants, that in Europe we can just observe in green houses or know as small house plants.

This one was like a big umbrella :D

Of course we already met a few animals on our way:

Getting to the finca the flora changed and we saw a lot of beautiful plants:

So before I show you the main pictures, here a few general dates about hummingbirds, that I learned from the owner of the farm, while he gave us a tour.

• Hummingbirds are the smallest bird species The 5 cm bee hummingbird weights less than 2.0 g.
• They are named like that, 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, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species, to in excess of 80 in some of the smallest.
• Between 325 and 340 species of hummingbirds are described, depending on taxonomic viewpoint, divided into two subfamilies: the hermits and the typical hummingbirds.
• The hummingbird family has the second-greatest number of species of any bird family.
• During evolution, hummingbirds have adapted to the navigational needs of visual processing, while in rapid flight or hovering by development of an exceptionally dense array of retinal neurons allowing for increased spatial resolution in the lateral and frontal visual fields.
• Hummingbirds are highly sensitive to stimuli in their visual fields, responding to even minimal motion in any direction by reorienting themselves in midflight. Their visual sensitivity allows them to precisely hover in place, while in complex and dynamic natural environments.
• With the exception of insects, hummingbirds, while in flight, have the highest metabolism of all animals – a necessity to support the rapid beating of their wings during hovering and fast forward flight. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, with a breathing rate of 250 breaths per minute.
• During flight, oxygen consumption per gram of muscle tissue in a hummingbird is about 10 times higher than that measured in elite human athletes
• As far as is known, male hummingbirds do not take part in nesting. Most species build a cup-shaped nest on the branch of a tree or shrub. The nest varies in size relative to the particular species—from smaller than half a walnut shell to several centimeters in diameter.
• Two white eggs are laid, which despite being the smallest of all bird eggs, are in fact large relative to the adult hummingbird's size. Incubation lasts 14 to 23 days,depending on the species, ambient temperature, and female attentiveness to the nest.
• For nutrition, hummingbirds eat a variety of insects, including mosquitoes, fruit flies, and gnats in flight or aphids on leaves and spiders in their webs.
• To supply energy needs, hummingbirds drink nectar, a sweet liquid inside certain flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they normally reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is higher. - That´s why Cristián, our guide, put a lot of bowls for them in the area, with sugar water in it.
• Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy cost would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds eat many small meals and consume around half their weight in nectar each day.
• They drink with their tongues by rapidly lapping nectar. Their tongues have tubes which run down their lengths and help the hummingbirds drink.

Cristián told us, that at his farm we would be able to see 150 different species of hummingbirds. They where literally everywhere flying around us. It was really loud and also difficult to take pictures so I took a lot of videos that show how they eat and fly around.

When I sit there between this bowls and saw the Hummingbirds flying around all the time I was so amazed watching them, that I totally lost track of time! There are so many different onces, and If you wait enough time, they come closer and closer ;)

Of course I also managed to get a few pictures of this amazing creatures :)

In the end Cristián brought us to a special place to give me a bowl in my hand and feed them myself!! I never saw a hummingbird from that close!! - Amazing experience!

I had a great time and learned a lot on that day hiking and watching the Colibris together with my good friend Sebastián.

For me, these are the kind of experiences you just make, getting in touch with locals, which show you their special places and give you also a chance to get to know the culture from another perspective.

As always I hope you enjoyed my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem and Comment you make, because you are supporting my travels with it!

Cheers,
Liz