Hummingbirds are one of my favorite types of birds. I love watching them hover over the feeder on our porch. They are fascinating little creatures, so of course we had to include them in our bird study!
Information About Hummingbirds
There are over 300 species of hummingbirds and they are only found in the Americas. The world's smallest bird species is the bee hummingbird, measuring in at just 2 inches tall. Hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover and fly backwards, some can even fly upside down! A hummingbird flaps it's wings around 80 times per second. That is crazy fast!
In order for hummingbirds to fuel their incredibly fast metabolisms, they need to take in a lot of high energy foods, like flower nectar and small insects and spiders. A hummingbird typically eats nearly half it's weight in a day, and may stop to eat as often as every 10 minutes.
Hummingbirds build tiny elastic nests mainly from twigs, grasses, and spider silk. Female hummingbirds typically lay 1-3 navy bean sized eggs at a time. Eggs take around 14-18 days to hatch. Chicks are ready to leave the nest and set off on their own about 18-28 days after hatching.
Videos About Hummingbirds
-Hummingbirds from All Things Animal
Hummingbird Suncatcher Craft
When we made our Valentine's Day Heart Suncatchers a few weeks ago, we also made hummingbird suncatchers, and they came out beautiful!
For this activity you will need:
- a sheet of plastic (we recycled some off an old pie box)
-black puffy paint
-acrylic paints in various colors
-modge podge or clear drying school glue
-paint brush
-scissors
-string
We started by searching for a free printable hummingbird coloring sheet online that we could print and use to trace. Once we found one we liked, we printed it and placed it under our plastic sheet. Then I carefully traced the outline with puffy paint and set it aside to dry.
The next day when the paint was completely dry, I cut them out and got the table ready for the kids to paint. I mixed the acrylic paints about 50/50 with modge podge, this helps them dry a little transparent, so the sun can shine through them.
Then I let the kids do their thing, and paint their hummingbirds however they liked. Then we set them aside to dry again.
Once they were dry, we poked a small hole in the top of the wing with a push pin and threaded a string through, and that's it! Now you can hang it in a sunny window.
When we made our Valentine's Day Heart Suncatchers a few weeks ago, we also made hummingbird suncatchers, and they came out beautiful!
For this activity you will need:
- a sheet of plastic (we recycled some off an old pie box)
-black puffy paint
-acrylic paints in various colors
-modge podge or clear drying school glue
-paint brush
-scissors
-string
We started by searching for a free printable hummingbird coloring sheet online that we could print and use to trace. Once we found one we liked, we printed it and placed it under our plastic sheet. Then I carefully traced the outline with puffy paint and set it aside to dry.
Then I let the kids do their thing, and paint their hummingbirds however they liked. Then we set them aside to dry again.
DIY Hummingbird Feeder
Hummingbirds are nectar eaters that drink nectar from flowers through long narrow beaks. You can make your own simple hummingbird feeder out of items you likely already have around the house. For this activity you will need:
-a small plastic container with a lid
-a plastic straw
-a red permanent marker
Start by carefully poking a small hole in the center of one side of the plastic container with a knife. The hole should be just barely big enough to slide the straw through.
Cut the straw so that it is 1-2 inches long, and slide it into the hole you made in the container at a downward angle, leaving a centimeter or two sticking out of the container. If your straw doesn't sit snugly in the hole you may need to add a small piece of duct tape or hot glue to hold it in place.
Draw a red flower with the permanent marker around the straw to attract hummingbirds to your feeder.
Fill your feeder with hummingbird nectar right up to the hole you placed the straw in. Place the lid on the container and then set it outside on the edge of your porch or in a tree. Add more nectar as needed to keep it full.
You can buy hummingbird nectar at your local feed store, or at almost any store with a garden center. You can also make your own by mixing 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Nectar can get moldy, so be sure to change it out as needed. If you live in a cool climate, nectar should be changed out about once a month. If you live some place warm that regularly gets above 70 degrees, you'll want to change it out weekly.
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out the other posts in my Learning About Birds Series and my All About Birds printable unit study.
Hummingbirds are nectar eaters that drink nectar from flowers through long narrow beaks. You can make your own simple hummingbird feeder out of items you likely already have around the house. For this activity you will need:
-a small plastic container with a lid
-a plastic straw
-a red permanent marker
Start by carefully poking a small hole in the center of one side of the plastic container with a knife. The hole should be just barely big enough to slide the straw through.
Cut the straw so that it is 1-2 inches long, and slide it into the hole you made in the container at a downward angle, leaving a centimeter or two sticking out of the container. If your straw doesn't sit snugly in the hole you may need to add a small piece of duct tape or hot glue to hold it in place.
Draw a red flower with the permanent marker around the straw to attract hummingbirds to your feeder.
Fill your feeder with hummingbird nectar right up to the hole you placed the straw in. Place the lid on the container and then set it outside on the edge of your porch or in a tree. Add more nectar as needed to keep it full.
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out the other posts in my Learning About Birds Series and my All About Birds printable unit study.
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