Hummingbirds - Photos

Hummingbirds - Photos - Introduction

Picture source: Animal Diversity Web © 1995-2004 The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors

Native American tribes viewed them as messengers of gods. They even ascribed the advent of a god to hummingbirds. Thus, Huitzilopochtli, one of the Aztec war gods, was believed to have magically come out of a hummingbird feather ball. Hummingbirds were also attached to the war god due to their aggressive behavior.

Spanish explorers, who later arrived in America, called hummingbirds 'flying jewels'. Years after these 'jewels' appeared on luxurious hats of prim European ladies and in the cabinets of noble aristocrats as dust-catchers. All that, in many ways, contributed to the disappearance of who knows how many species; and no one knows if there would be any left by now, if the Migratory Bird Treaty Act had not been accepted in 1918.

Hummingbirds' ability to take ridiculous positions in flight is so far a matter of great interest. They can fly forward, backward, sideways and upside down, or simply hang aloft without moving. This feature places them at a crossroads between birds and insects. Hummingbirds can be found in forest regions, where many flowers grow, or in flower gardens, which are arranged to attract them.