Doctor Booby - A Mighty Bird in a Tiny Package

"Doctor Booby" Bird. 8 x 10 Acrylic Painting
of a Humming Bird by Mark Phillips

As children, we grew up calling this bird a “Doctor Booby”.

Apparently, this is because 19th-century doctors wore long black coats so people couldn’t easily see the blood and gore that often got on their clothes while performing their duties. In the Barbados sunshine, the iridescent colours of the hummingbird are hidden and the dark silhouette of the hummingbird is often all you can see.

And… like the doctors of yesterday, they are always on the move, too busy to stop in one place for long.

I am 50% sure that this is a painting of the Green-throated Carib. This was easy to figure out as there are, to the best of my knowledge, only two species of Barbados hummingbird. The other is the Antillean Crested. If I am wrong please let me know. I am by no means an expert. I just think that they are awesome!

Hummingbirds are small, colourful birds with iridescent feathers. Their name comes from the fact that they flap their wings so fast (about 80 times per second) that they make a humming noise. Hummingbirds can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down. They are also able to hover by flapping their wings in a figure-8 pattern. They have a specialized long and tapered bill that is used to obtain nectar from the centre of long, tubular flowers. The hummingbird’s feet are used for perching only and are not used for hopping or walking.

As a child, I remember marvelling at a hummingbird chasing blackbirds and other larger birds from the “coffee bush” in our yard, where they made their tiny, yet very well constructed nest. There are fiercely territorial and fearless despite their tiny size. Dr. Boobys, (or is it Dr. Boobies?), are fascinating creatures. Their very existence should make us humble ourselves before a creator that can not only conceptualize but bring into being such a marvel of biological engineering.

Vision

They have a dense array of retinal neurons allowing for increased spatial resolution in the lateral and frontal visual fields. Morphological studies showed that neuronal hypertrophy, relatively the largest in any bird, exists in a brain region called the pretectal nucleus lentiformis mesencephali (or nucleus of the optic tract in mammals) responsible for refining dynamic visual processing while hovering and during rapid flight. The enlargement of this brain region responsible for visual processing indicates enhanced ability for perception and processing of fast-moving visual stimuli which hummingbirds encounter during rapid forward flight, insect foraging, competitive interactions, and high-speed courtship.

Metabolism

With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals – a necessity to support the rapid beating of their wings during hovering and fast forward flight. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, a rate once measured in a blue-throated hummingbird, with a breathing rate of 250 breaths per minute, even at rest. During flight, oxygen consumption per gram of muscle tissue in a hummingbird is about 10 times higher than that measured in elite human athletes.

Hummingbirds are rare among vertebrates in their ability to rapidly make use of ingested sugars to fuel energetically expensive hovering flight, powering up to 100% of their metabolic needs with the sugars they drink (in comparison, human athletes max out at around 30%). Hummingbirds can use newly ingested sugars to fuel hovering flight within 30–45 minutes of consumption. These data suggest that hummingbirds are able to oxidize sugar in flight muscles at rates high enough to satisfy their extreme metabolic demands. By relying on newly ingested sugars to fuel flight, hummingbirds can reserve their limited fat stores to sustain their overnight fasting or to power migratory flights.

Studies of hummingbirds' metabolisms are relevant to the question of how a migrating ruby-throated hummingbird can cross 800 km (500 miles) of the Gulf of Mexico on a nonstop flight. This hummingbird, like other birds preparing to migrate, stores fat as a fuel reserve, thereby augmenting its weight by as much as 100%, hence increasing the potential flying time over open water.

Flight stability

The only type of bird that relies solely on its own strength to hover in the air, a hummingbird flapping its wings requires more mass-based mechanical power output than any other form of locomotion. Now, scientists have discovered that the tiny bird’s efficiency comes from the ratio of the wing’s length to its width. Researchers from Stanford University and Wageningen University tested the hover performance of 26 hummingbird wings from 12 different species in a machine that measured the torque and lift the wings produced at various angles.

The study also found that the aerodynamic performance of hummingbird wings is “remarkably similar” to that of our most advanced micro-helicopter, (drone), rotor. But the wings were up to 27 percent more efficient. Better than the best our brightest scientists can produce!

Torpor

The metabolism of hummingbirds can slow at night or at any time when food is not readily available: the birds enter a hibernation-like, deep-sleep state (known as torpor) to prevent energy reserves from falling to a critical level. During night-time torpor, body temperature falls from 40 to 18 °C, with heart and breathing rates both slowed dramatically (heart rate to roughly 50 to 180 beats per minute from its daytime rate of higher than 1000).

Hummingbirds have a long history of folklore and symbolism in native cultures. The Aztecs saw them as messengers between them and their ancestors or the gods. In Native American culture, hummingbirds are seen as healers and bringers of love, good luck and joy. In Central America, they are a sign of love and will bring love to the person who spots them.

Unfortunately, with the development of housing in areas where these birds traditionally thrived, they are not as prolific as they used to be. I have sighted only one in my garden so far this year. I would like to think that this is because I was too busy to notice but… who knows.

Have you ever thought that hummingbirds seem like something out of a fairy-tale? There is something magical about their colours, shape and the way their move as if they are reminding us to seek out the magic in life.

“The ruby-throated hummingbird is a wonder of migration. Every winter it makes an amazing journey. Some have been known to make a journey of 2500 miles or more, from Alaska to Central America. Because of it, the hummingbird is a symbol for accomplishing that which seems impossible. It will teach you how to find the miracle of joyful living from your own life circumstances.” – Ted Andrews 

As always, thank you for reading, (and viewing). I appreciate the comments and the kind words of encouragement. Until next time when I will share some more of my work with you, please leave a comment.  And, I will really appreciate if you share this post with your friends. To make sure that you don't miss any future posts, Please enter your email address in the subscribe by email box on the right.

Mark Phillips

Artist
Email:- mark@phillipsbajanart.com
Website:-www.phillipsbajanart.com
Online Store:- PhillipsArtStore