Hello and welcome to a new edition of ‘Evolution, Are You Drunk?’

I took this photo and watched this bird for a couple of hours, and I’m still not fully convinced that it’s real. Like it looked and behaved like an actual bird, and there’s plenty of evidence online confirming its existence, but I honestly just can’t be sure there wasn’t some guy in the bushes with a remote controller giggling away.

Like, it’s literally poking its tongue out in the photo above.

It’s taunting me.

Is this how people get sucked into the Birds Aren’t Real conspiracy theory?

Anyway, do your own research, but apparently this is the Sword-Billed Hummingbird, an absolutely ridiculous creature native to the Andean mountains of South America.

Assuming it’s real, the Sword-Billed Hummingbird is one of the most striking birds on the planet.

Due to their unique schnozz, Swordbills are specialist feeders, meaning they typically only feed from specific types of flowers, namely those with long corollas. I had to Google what a corolla is and it turns out it’s just a fancy botanist word for petal. In other words, while all the other hummingbirds looked at the flowers with long petals and were like, “nah, too hard to reach, I’ll stick with my small flowers.” The Swordbill was like, “challenge accepted, just give me a few million years to evolve a longer face.”

In fact, the Swordbill actually coevolved with one particular species of passionflower (Passiflora mixta). This flower’s corolla tube is almost exactly the same length as the Swordbill’s beak, and the unique shape of the flower means its nectar is completely inaccessible to every other species of bird. Both species inhabit the same areas along the Andes mountain range and would likely both suffer if either population was threatened.

While the Swordbill’s extravagant beak is definitely useful in certain circumstances, it’s also comically impractical in others. While most hummingbirds use their beaks to preen themselves, the Swordbill literally cannot reach itself with its own beak, and is forced to clean itself with its feet instead.

Sword-Billed Hummingbirds are trap-line feeders, meaning that they typically visit the same flowers over and over again in a very specific sequence. But every now and then, Swordbills likes to change things up, and when they get sick of nectar, these birds will occasionally turn their attention to insects.

Now I’m not an insect (they struggle to use a camera), but I’m pretty sure that one of the things you get taught at insect school is that if you’re flying past a bird, you should always keep at least one bird-body-length away at all times in order to avoid being eaten. I mean, that’s just How To Be An Insect 101. And it’s a solid rule – there’s an estimated 18,000 species of bird on the planet, and for 17,999 of them, that rule will save your little insect butt every single time.

The one exception? Yep. You guessed it.

The Sword-Billed Hummingbird is the only bird on the planet whose beak is longer than its body. So naturally, if it’s after a change of diet, the Swordbill will just start casually plucking unsuspecting insects straight out of the air.

For obvious reasons, the Swordbill was one of the birds that I was most excited to see in Peru. However, I was also blown away by the extraordinarily diverse array of stunning hummingbirds that call the Andes home – especially coming from Australia, where we don’t have any!

Next up in our tour of the world of hummingbirds is the Sparkling Violetear. These brightly-coloured birds are one of the most common hummingbirds in South America, and can be found in highlands from Venezuela down to Argentina.

Honestly, we’ve got heaps of cool hummingbird facts coming up, but let’s just take a moment to bask in these absolutely gorgeous photos of this absolutely gorgeous bird.

Done?

Cool. Let’s continue then!

Hummingbirds are located throughout all of the Americas, from Alaska to Patagonia, however they’re most commonly found in the tropics. They range from the tiny 5cm Bee Hummingbird, found in Cuba, to the 23cm Giant Hummingbird, pictured here!

Interestingly, the speed at which hummingbirds flap their wings corresponds to their size, with the Giant Hummingbird coming in at a measly 12 flaps per second, while smaller hummingbirds have been recorded flapping at a mind-blowing 90 flaps per second (I’m pretty sure ‘flaps per second’ is the official SI unit of measurement here). Indeed, the name hummingbird comes from the low drone emitted as a result of their flapping wings, with faster flapping corresponding to a stronger, more intense noise.

When I was taking these photographs, the Giant Hummingbird (above) was almost silent while hovering. On the other hand, the tiny White-Bellied Woodstar (below), sounded like a bee on steroids while buzzing around the flowers.

You can see this phenomenon in the photographs themselves as well. When photographing the larger hummingbirds mid-flight, I was often able to capture their wings somewhat sharply. On the other hand, when photographing the smaller hummingbirds, their wings remain nothing but a blur.

But despite flapping their wings at truly incredible speeds, hummingbirds show a remarkable ability for keeping their heads perfectly still while hovering, even in windy conditions, allowing for nice, crisp portraits of even the smallest birds.

You may have noticed that hummingbirds are some of the most brightly coloured animals on the planet, and this gorgeous White-Bellied Woodstar is no exception. The evolutionary purpose for this colouration is fairly well understood – it largely comes down to defending their territory and attracting a mate. However, the physical science behind why hummingbird feathers can be so iridescent for a long time remained a mystery. In some species, even a slight change in angle can result in drastically enhanced colouration.

A 2020 study examined 35 different species of hummingbird and found that it wasn’t just the pigment that mattered, but also the physical structure of the feathers themselves.

The colour of feathers is determined by pigment-producing organelles called melanosomes. We have melanosomes too – they determine our hair and skin colour. In most animals, the melanosomes themselves are pretty boring, but in hummingbirds, they’re pancake-shaped, with lots of air bubbles, and they’re arranged in layers. What this means is you have way more surfaces for light to reflect off when it comes into contact with a hummingbird feather.

Imagine shining a laser into a hall of mirrors – that’s basically what’s happening every time a beam of sunlight hits a hummingbird!

If you’ve ever looked at a hummingbird and thought to yourself, ‘wow, that bird needs to chill’ – you are absolutely right.

Hummingbirds in flight have the highest metabolism of any vertebrate, and their heart rates have been recorded reaching peaks of 1,260 beats per minute – that’s 21 beats per second! Despite high metabolisms often being associated with short lifespans, hummingbirds live surprisingly long lives for their size, sometimes surviving for up to a decade or more.

They typically utilise freshly ingested sugars from nectar in order to power their regular flight, but they also have the ability to access fat stores in order to survive migratory flights. One species of hummingbird is even able to traverse the 800km Gulf of Mexico in a single, non-stop journey.

But thankfully hummingbirds don’t always live in a perpetual state of hyperactivity. They also have the ability to enter a state known as torpor – a kind of short-term hibernation wherein heart and breathing rates are slowed, and energy is conserved.

A hummingbird’s bodily temperature can be as high as 40°C during regular activity, but this drops astoundingly during torpor. One species in the Peruvian Andes has been recorded dropping its internal temperature to a mind-boggling 3.3°C – the lowest bodily temperature ever recorded in a bird.

As someone who regularly alternates between intense restlessness and utter laziness – I’m beginning to think that I have a bit more in common with hummingbirds than I previously thought.

Hummingbird mating displays often involve remarkably intricate aerial performances. In one species, the male will ascend high above the female before diving downward at speeds of almost 100km/h – accelerating faster than any vertebrate on the planet while doing so. Incredibly, this motion results in a high-pitched chirp being emitted from the male’s tailfeathers, kind of like a squeaky whipcrack.

If the female is impressed by the mid-air manoeuvres and tailfeather tunes, then the relationship can proceed to the next level.

Hummingbirds will create small, bowl-shaped nests out of sticks and leaves, and will even use lichen and moss to create a soft, camouflaged lining. However, what makes hummingbird nests truly special is their secret ingredient.

Amazingly, hummingbirds will raid spider webs in order to steal their silk and incorporate it into their nests. The sturdy yet stretchy nature of the silk allows for the nest to slowly expand as the eggs hatch and the baby hummingbirds begin to grow larger.

Incubation lasts for two or three weeks, and then the hatchlings will remain in their soft sanctuary of spider silk for another fortnight, at which point they will begin to explore the big, scary world outside the nest.

All of the photos in this series were taken on a single adventure out to a beautiful property in the rolling hills of Peru’s Andean countryside. The Ensifera Santuario de Colibríes is located around two hours north of Cusco, just outside the Sacred Valley town of Urubamba, and is home to a stunning variety hummingbirds.

These enchanting birds will absolutely steal your heart, and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning all about them – I hope you have too.