Hummingbirds are better able to cope with the climate crisis than many other wings. However, the success of migratory bird nesting is at stake as the climate warms.
PARADISE, ARIZONA Hummingbirds sparkling in the colors of the rainbow are superstars in the bird world. These air acrobats effortlessly fold, fly backwards and spin in place. No other bird can do these tricks.
Hummingbirds have conquered habitats from arid deserts to the high mountain meadows of the Andes. They also thrive in the courtyards of the urban environment and the coniferous forests of the north.
Assistant Professor of Biology and Ecology Morgan Tingley studies hummingbirds and the effects of climate change on birds at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The researcher describes the little giants of the bird world as hearty.
– They adapt well to man-made environments. Changes in habitats have not affected most of the North American hummingbird species, Tingley tells in a video call.
That means about three billion birds have disappeared due to habitat loss, increased agricultural production and other reasons, some of which are being accelerated by climate change.
– Of the approximately 350 hummingbird species found in the Americas and the Caribbean alone, 16 nest regularly in the United States and Canada. Most species are found in Central and South America.
– Hummingbirds sink into hours of sleep (torpor) at night to save energy. In nocturnal horizons, the body temperature of hummingbirds drops close to ambient temperature, meaning that they become alternating in temperature like lizards.
– Hummingbirds feed on small insects, but mainly flower nectar. They can visit up to a thousand flowers during the day, so hummingbirds are effective and important pollinators.
– If a person had as fast a metabolism as a hummingbird, we would have to eat 300 burgers a day.
– The Rubil’s Cucumber (Archilochus colubris) flies 720 to 950 kilometers across the Gulf of Mexico during its spring migration when it returns to its nesting sites in southern Canada and the northeastern United States.
Ruby bearded hummingbird does not clot even in the cold
Hummingbirds have the largest brains of all birds in terms of size. That may be one key to their adaptability.
The ability to adapt also depends on the species. It is more difficult for specialized species to be flexible.
“The best positions are for place birds, such as rocking hummingbirds and ruby bearded hummingbirds, which are easiest to detect when conditions are most conducive to nesting,” Tingley explains.
An insect scientist and a hummingbird ringer Michele Lanan has found from 20 years of nesting data that native hummingbirds in Arizona lay their first egg one and a half days earlier each year.
– It’s almost a month earlier than 20 years ago! I believe climate change is the cause of early nesting, Lanan says in Paradise, Arizona.
Some species or individuals no longer go on a migration journey at all when there is enough food in the southern states all year round.
The ruby bearded hummingbird (Calypte anna) has taken advantage of global warming to expand its range to the extremes of its resilience. Until 30 years ago, the species thrived only in the southeastern United States. Now it lives as far north as Vancouver and Seattle.
– They will survive the frost as long as food is available. I guess they make it around the north just because people feed them, Tingley says.
Long-distance movers face the toughest times ahead
“In distant wintering grounds, they don’t know when spring has come to nesting areas,” Tingley points out.
Long-distance travelers, such as fox and ruby-throated hummingbirds (Selasphorus Rufus, S. colubris), whose populations have disappeared in the last 50 years, are most affected by the changes.
Weighing only a couple of grams, a fox hummingbird has the longest migration distance of any hummingbird species. The fox hummingbird flies more than 4,800 miles from its nesting area in Alaska to winter in Mexico.
In the summer, the chicks take the fire test alone, only at the age of one month. They fly through five states and stop to refuel according to the flowering of plants in the resting areas.
When flowering is early, hummingbirds and their food plants are on a different schedule. There may not be enough nutrition when it is most needed.
There is a risk that nesting will fail, fewer chicks will grow up or fewer and fewer birds will survive the migration.
Hummingbird ringer Birgit Johnson has noticed that climate change has already affected hummingbirds migrating through Arizona.
“The birds are now showing up at a different time than before, so they have clearly changed the timing of the move,” says Johnson of Ft. At the Huachuca Ring Site in Arizona.
California threatens increased wildfires
Climate change has also increased the number of wildfires and intensified fires. Their long-term effects on hummingbirds, other birds and animals are not yet known.
– The fire season started earlier at the end of July, when most of the birds had completed their nesting. Now that the fires are early, more and more birds are in danger, Tingley explains.
California now returns frequently and year-round. In recent years, the widest swaths have been located on the migration route of the fox hummingbird. Fires and smoke can affect the migration routes and schedules of other birds as well.
Scientists firmly believe that hummingbirds will retain their place in fascinating nature.
– Adaptability is their trump card. It gives me hope that the hummingbirds will survive the difficulties as winners, Michale Lanan reasoned.