Hummingbird Legends

Hummingbirds are such magical and charming creatures, with lots of folklore in the Americas. They have been used as “totems”, or spiritual guides, by many native peoples throughout history. Inspiring animals, they have been the center of many creation myths and usually exhibit great joy and fierce independence in many tales.

Many stories involve hummingbirds as symbols of love, and our favorite hummingbird legend comes from the Jatibonicu Taino tribal nation of Puerto Rico;

In the tradition of “star-crossed lovers”, a young man and woman from rival tribes fell madly in love. Scorned by their parents and at the onset of war between the tribes, the two lovers are forbidden to see each other. Heartbroken and weary, they plead to a shaman to help them bind their love in marriage. Fearful for his life, but wanting to help the young couple, the shaman invokes the gods' help. Taking pity on the couple, the gods transform the man into a brilliant hummingbird and the woman into a beautiful red flower. So that in disguise, they may kiss each other for the entire world to witness their love.

Hummingbird Myths

Hummingbirds are so peculiar a species of birds, that it's easy to understand why they've been so misunderstood. Their unique flying abilities and aerial feats have often leaded to people assuming some rather strange “facts”.

Here are a couple of our favorite misconceptions about hummers and why they aren't true:

• Hummingbirds migrate on the back of geese

This rumor has been circulating for ages, and although a very whimsical imagining it has no basis in fact. Hummingbirds are capable of traveling vast distances through their migration, in human equivalence about 50,000 miles per day! Geese likely got involved in this fairy tale because ruby-throat hummingbirds migrate all the way from the Gulf of Mexico into Canada in the spring and back again in autumn.

• Hummingbirds don't have feet

All birds have feet, it's just that hummingbirds typically hover to collect nectar and pollinate flowers. Hummers will perch given a safe branch or feeders to land on, and will rest between their quick-winged flights.

• Hummingbirds live on nectar alone

Just as man cannot live on bread alone, hummingbirds need a complete and balanced diet to survive. Nectar offers a quick release of energy and its high caloric intake will help hummers survive migration, but real nutrition is found in the many small insects hummingbirds feed on throughout the day.

• Hummingbirds use their beak like a drinking straw

Hummingbirds drink so quickly and come and go in such energetic spurts that it's easy to think they take a quick sip through their beak and are off. The actual physiology of hummingbirds shows that they actually “lap” nectar, much like a cat. Hummingbirds have incredibly long tongues (about 2 ½ times the length of their beak) that are rolled at the back of their throat (the best image to describe this is like a party blower, curled at one end). When they “drink” nectar, their tongue whips out and small ridges alongside the tongue grab the nectar and pull the food back into the hummer's beak. Because their tongue reaches so far these Sweet Beaks are able to reach the farthest nectar in flowers and all the way to the bottom of most top-feeding hummingbird feeders.