Editing Hummingbird (section)

{{Short description|Family of birds}}
{{Other uses}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|fossil_range = [[Rupelian]] {{Fossilrange|30|0}}
|image = Trinidad and Tobago hummingbirds composite.jpg
|image_caption = Four hummingbirds<br/>from [[Trinidad and Tobago]]
|taxon = Trochilidae
|authority = [[Nicholas Aylward Vigors|Vigors]], 1825
|type_genus = ''[[Trochilus]]''
|type_genus_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
|subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
|subdivision = {{collapsible list |title = <small>Subfamiles:</small>|bullets = yes|†''[[Eurotrochilus]]''|[[Florisuginae]]|[[Hermit (hummingbird)|Phaethornithinae]]|[[Polytminae]]|[[Lesbiinae]]|[[Patagoninae]]|[[Trochilinae]]|<small>(For an alphabetic species list, see [[List of hummingbird species]])</small>}}
}}

'''Hummingbirds''' are [[bird]]s native to the [[Americas]] and comprise the [[Family (biology)|biological family]] '''Trochilidae'''. With approximately 366 species and 113 [[genus|genera]],<ref name="IOC">{{Cite web|last1=Gill |first1=F. |last2=Donsker |first2=D. |last3=Rasmussen |first3=P. |date=29 January 2023 |title=IOC World Bird List (v 13.2), International Ornithological Committee |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/hummingbirds |access-date=5 March 2023 |publisher= [[Birds of the World: Recommended English Names|IOC World Bird List]]}}</ref> they occur from [[Alaska]] to [[Tierra del Fuego]], but most species are found in [[Central America|Central]] and South America.<ref name="abc">{{cite web |first1=Kathryn |last1=Stonich |title=Hummingbirds of the United States: A Photo List of All Species |url=https://abcbirds.org/blog21/types-of-hummingbirds/ |publisher=American Bird Conservancy |access-date=7 March 2023 |date=26 April 2021}}</ref> As of 2024, 21 hummingbird species are listed as [[Endangered species|endangered]] or [[critically endangered]], with numerous species declining in population.<ref name="iucn">{{cite web |title=Hummingbird (search) |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=hummingbird&searchType=species |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=2024}}</ref><ref name="English">{{cite journal |last1=English |first1=Simon G. |last2=Bishop |first2=Christine A. |last3=Wilson |first3=Scott |last4=Smith |first4=Adam C. |title=Current contrasting population trends among North American hummingbirds |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=2021-09-15 |page=18369 |issn=2045-2322 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-97889-x |pmid=34526619 |pmc=8443710 |bibcode=2021NatSR..1118369E }}</ref>

Hummingbirds have varied specialized characteristics to enable rapid, maneuverable flight: exceptional [[metabolism|metabolic capacity]], adaptations to high altitude, sensitive visual and communication abilities, and long-distance migration in some species. Among all birds, male hummingbirds have the widest diversity of [[plumage]] color, particularly in blues, greens, and purples.<ref name="venable">{{cite journal |author1=Venable, G.X. |author2=Gahm, K. |author3=Prum, R.O. |title=Hummingbird plumage color diversity exceeds the known gamut of all other birds |journal=Communications Biology |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=576 |date=June 2022 |pmid=35739263 |pmc=9226176 |doi=10.1038/s42003-022-03518-2}}</ref> Hummingbirds are the smallest mature birds, measuring {{Convert|7.5|–|13|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in length. The smallest is the {{Convert|5|cm|in|adj=on|abbr=on}} [[bee hummingbird]], which weighs less than {{Convert|2.0|g|oz|2|abbr=on}}, and the largest is the {{Convert|23|cm|in|0|adj=on|abbr=on}} [[giant hummingbird]], weighing {{Convert|18|–|24|g|oz}}. Noted for long [[beak]]s, hummingbirds are specialized for [[Nectarivore|feeding on flower nectar]], but all species also consume small insects.

Hummingbirds are known by that name because of the humming sound created by their beating [[Bird's wing|wings]], which flap at high frequencies audible to other birds and humans. They hover at rapid wing-flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species to 99 per second in small hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds have the highest [[basal metabolic rate|mass-specific metabolic rate]] of any [[homeothermic]] animal.<ref name="suarez">{{Cite journal |last=Suarez |first=R.K. |year=1992 |title=Hummingbird flight: Sustaining the highest mass-specific metabolic rates among vertebrates |journal=Experientia |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=565–570 |doi=10.1007/bf01920240 |pmid=1612136 |s2cid=21328995}}</ref><ref name="Hargrove">{{Cite journal |last=Hargrove |first=J.L. |year=2005 |title=Adipose energy stores, physical work, and the metabolic syndrome: Lessons from hummingbirds |journal=Nutrition Journal |volume=4 |pages=36 |doi=10.1186/1475-2891-4-36 |pmc=1325055 |pmid=16351726 |doi-access=free }}</ref> To conserve energy when food is scarce and at night when not foraging, they can enter [[torpor]], a state similar to [[hibernation]], and slow their [[metabolic rate]] to {{frac|1|15}} of its normal rate.<ref name=Hargrove/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hummingbirds|publisher=Migratory Bird Center, Smithsonian National Zoological Park |url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/webcam/hummingbirds.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716064758/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/webcam/hummingbirds.cfm |archive-date=2012-07-16 |access-date=2013-04-01}}</ref> While most hummingbirds do not [[bird migration|migrate]], the [[rufous hummingbird]] has one of the longest migrations among birds, traveling twice per year between Alaska and [[Mexico]], a distance of about {{convert|3900|mi}}.

Hummingbirds split from their [[Sister taxon|sister group]], the [[Swift (bird)|swifts]] and [[treeswift]]s, around 42 million years ago.<ref name="mcguire2014"/> The oldest known fossil hummingbird is ''[[Eurotrochilus]]'', from the [[Rupelian]] Stage of Early Oligocene Europe.<ref name="Mayr2004"/>