Hummingbird Glossary [mschloe.com]

Glossary

A

ACUTE: Having pointed tips, as in the tail feathers of many young birds.

AHY: After Hatch Year.

ALBINO: A mutant form in which pigments are lacking. A true albino hummingbird has pink eyes, feet, and beak and white feathers. A partial albino has some normal feathers and some white feathers.

ALBUMIN: The so-called "white" of the egg. See yolk.

ALPHA CODE: A system of abbreviations through which bird species are designated by four letters.

ALTRICIAL: Born or hatched naked, blind, and helpless. Hummingbird babies are altricial.

ANIMALIA: The Kingdom in which the Hummingbird is placed.

ANTS: Social insects (Formicidae) that often are attracted in such large numbers to hummingbird feeders that the birds stay away.

APODIFORMES: The Order that includes hummingbirds and swifts.

APODIDAE: The Family that includes hummingbirds.

ASY: After Second Year.

ASYMMETRICAL: Not symmetrical. Primary feathers in hummingbirds are curved and tapered and asymmetrical.

AVES: The Class in which all birds are placed.

AVIAN: Pertaining to birds.

B

BAND: A thin piece of metal, usually aluminum, that is formed into a ring that is placed around a bird's leg. The band is inscribed with a unique number that allows banders to collect information about sizes of bird populations, migration, longevity, and site fidelity.

BELLY: The part of the bird just ahead of the base of the legs.

BREAST: The region of a bird between the throat and the belly.

BREEDING RANGE: Area which breeding occurs.

BROOD: To protect nestlings by sitting on them; also, the whole complement of nestings is a called a "brood."

BROOD PATCH: An area that develops on the belly and breast of birds--usually females--that areincubating eggs or brooding young. The area loses its feathers, becomes edematous, and shows increased vascularization--all of which helps the adult bird transmit its body head to eggs or chicks

BUTT BAND: A bird band for which the ends merely butt together when placed around the bird's leg.Birds such as hawks and owls require "lock-on" bands with end flanges that fold over each other to prevent the birds from removing them.

C

CALCIUM: An element essential to formation of eggshell and bone in birds. It is derived by hummingbirds through insects in their diet.

CALIPER: A device for making precise linear measurements. Used in to determine the length of the wing chord of hummingbirds.

CALORIE: A unit of heat, usually thought of as the amount of energy per mass of a substance. Gram for gram, fat contains more calories than carbohydrates, even though the energy in carbohydrates is often more quickly released by metabolic processes.

CARBOHYDRATE: An organic compound, consisting primarily of sugar or starch, that can be turned quickly into caloric energy. Hummingbirds get most of their carbohydrates from flower nectar or sugar water. Also see fat and protein.

CHICK: A nestling, i.e., baby hummingbird still in the nest.

CHORD, WING: See wing chord.

CHORDATA: The Phylum in which the Hummingbird is placed. It includes all animals that, in either embryonic or adult stages, have a notochord--a stiff rod that parallels the nerve chord. In vertebrates the notochord becomes the spinal column.

CLASS: The third highest main level of classification. The Hummingbird is in the Class called "Aves."

CLAVICLES; The "collarbones." In birds, the clavicles are fused at the tip to form a furcula, or "wishbone."

CLOACA: bird's single opening for solid and liquid wastes, as well as the reproductive cells (eggs or sperm).

CLOACAL PROTUBERANCE: A swelling of the cloaca in male birds, caused by the accumulation of sperm in a sac adjoining the cloaca; usually on visible in a bird captured for banding. In monomorphic species, the presence of a cloacal protuberance indicates the bird in hand is a male. The cloacal protuberance disappears during the non-breeding season when sperm are not being produced.

COEVOLUTION: The process by which, over time, organisms change in comparison to each other. The long, narrow bill of the hummingbird is a co-evolved adaptation that allows it to feed on plants with long, tubular flowers that, in turn, are adapted (co-evolved) for fertilization by the hummingbirds that take their nectar. See evolution.

CONGENER: A member of the same Genus.

CONTOUR FEATHER: See Feather, Contour.

COPULATION: Usually, the reproductive act by which sperm cells are transferred from a male to a female. In hummingbirds, the male has no intromittent structure (penis), so copulation consists of a quick touch of the tips of the cloacas of the two mates.

COURTSHIP: Activities performed prior to actual breeding. Hummingbirds, the male displays a noisy, aerobatic courtship flight that demonstrates his overall health to a prospective female.

COVERT: Feathers that cover the flight feathers (rectrices and remiges); e.g., primary coverts cover the bases of the primary wing feathers on a hummingbird and aid in streamlining.

CROP: A thin-walled food reservoir that lies between the throat and the gizzard of a bird. Food is stored there temporarily and, the stored food can be regurgitated to feed young.

CROWN: The area on top of the head. It is sometimes appears yellow due to pollen deposits.

CULMEN: A standard measure used by bird banders; it is the straight-line measure of the top edge of the upper bill from its tip to the point where feathers begin to cover its base.

CUP: The depressed portion of a nest in which the eggs lie.

D

DIMORPHIC: Dissimilar in appearance. Adult males have colored gorgets and look different from females and young males that have white throats, so they are said to be "dimorphic." See monomorphic.

DISPERSAL: When an animal leaves an area and does not return. Different from migration, in which an animal leaves and returns, usually in a later season or year.

DOUBLE-BROOD: To attempt to lay a second set of eggs within a single breeding season, usually after a first brood has successfully fledged.

DOWN: Soft feathers that lie close to the skin surface of a bird and provide insulation.v

E

ECOLOGY: The study of interrelationships among organisms and between those organisms and the environment.

ECOTONE: An "edge" where two distinctly different habitats blend together. Hummingbirds often nest in the edge between a wooded area and an open meadow or suburban yard; this ecotone usually contains plant representatives from the woods and the meadow, plus some distinctive species that may be found in edges but not in woods or meadow.

EDEMATOUS: Filled with fluid. When a brood patch develops in an incubating bird, the fluid connects beneath the belly skin of the adult female and enhances the transmission of her body heat to the eggs or chicks.

EGG: The female's reproductive cell, or ovum, after it has been fertilized.

ENDEMIC: Native to an area; see indigenous.

ETCHINGS: Tiny engraved marks on the upper bill of recently fledged hummingbirds. Just from the action of sliding the beak in and out of flowers, the etchings wear off over several months and can be used to determine the approximate age of the hummingbird.

EVOLUTION: The process of change over time by which a living thing changes from one distinct life form into another similar but different life form. See coevolution.

EYE RING: An area around the eye of a bird that is a different color from its surrounding feathers. An eye ring may be caused by the skin color of the eyelid, or by special feathers and may be "complete" (encircling the entire eye) or not.

EXOTIC: Not native or indigenous. Also see invasive.

F

FAMILY: Fifth highest main level of classification.

FAT: A complex organic compound, usually ingested in the form of lipids, that is energy-rich but more slowly metabolized than carbohydrates. Tiny insects are the dietary source of fat for hummingbirds. Also see protein.

FEATHER: A specialized structure that covers the body and is found only in birds. Feathers may be modified for insulation, flight, courtship, and other functions.

FEATHER, CONTOUR: A feather that lies on the outside of the feather mass of a bird and defines its general shape. Contour feathers often aid in streamlining.

FEATHER, FLIGHT: A stiff feather in a bird's wing, usually the primary and secondary feathers.

FEATHER, PRIMARY: The long, asymmetrical wing feathers, attached to the ulna (forearm bone), that in hummingbirds are the main feathers used for forward propulsion.

FEATHER, SECONDARY: The shorter, more symmetrical feathers on the wing that lie between the primary feathers and the hummingbird's body. They are important in providing lift.

FEEDER: An artificial device, usually loaded with artificial nectar in the form of sugar water, that will attract hummingbirds.

FERTILE: If an ovum has been fertilized. Also, if a female is capable of producing ova.

FERTILIZE: To unite sperm and ovum, resulting in a zygote that typically develops into a new organism.

FIGURE-8: The path traced by the flapping wing of a Hummingbird that allows for--through changes in the shape of the wing's surface--forward, backward, and hovering flight.

FLANK: The side of a hummingbird, i.e., the area that lies underneath the wing when it is folded against the bird's body.

FLEDGE: To leave the nest, usually with the ability to fly or run.

FLEDGLING: A baby hummingbird that has just left the nest (fledged). Nestlings are usually fully-grown when the fledge and able to forage on their own.

FLIGHT FEATHER: See feather, flight.

FORAGE: To search for food.

FOREIGN RECAPTURE: See Recapture, Foreign.

FURCULA: The "wishbone." A structure unique to modern birds, formed by the apical fusion of the two collarbones (clavicles).

G

GAPE: The soft tissue at the corner of the mouth

GENUS (pl. GENERA): The sixth highest main level of classification.

GIZZARD: The muscular stomach of a bird. In hummingbirds, it is where tiny insects are ground up into digestible portions.

GONAD: A organ that produces reproductive cells. In male hummingbirds, the paired testes; in females, the functional left ovary.

GORGET: The throat feathers.

H

HABITAT: Where something lives.

HALLUX: A bird's hind toe.

HAREM: A social system in which a male hummingbird mates with several females. See polygamy and promiscuity.

HATCH YEAR (HY): A bird in the first calendar year of its life.

HAWK, SHARP-SHINNED: A small accipiter (Accipiter striatus) that preys upon other birds, including hummingbirds.

HOMEOTHERMIC: Able to produce one's own body heat (slang term is "warm-blooded").

HUMMINGBIRD: Any of 338 species of small birds in the Trochilidae. They are native only to the Western Hemisphere. Most are adapted for eating plant nectar, but all also take insects as a dietary protein source.

HUMMINGBIRD GARDEN: A garden filled with plants that produce nectar-bearing flowers attractive to hummingbirds. gardens may contain native or exotic plants, or a combination of both.

HY: Hatch Year.

HYPERPHAGIA: Significant increase in feeding activity, probably stimulated by photoperiod, in which hummingbirds eat large quantities of nectar and insects and put on fat stores prior to migration; marked by an increase in mass of 50-75%.

I

INCUBATE: To sit on eggs, keeping them warm through the transfer of body heat, only the female incubates.

INCUBATION PATCH: See brood patch.

INDIGENOUS: Found naturally in an area. See native.

INFERTILE: Unfertilized by sperm. Hummingbird females sometimes lay infertile eggs that will not hatch. May also refer to a female unable to produce ova.

INSECTIVOROUS: To have the habit of eating insects.

IRIDESCENT: Displaying a shift in color hues. In male Hummingbirds, prismatic effects and scattering of light result in the gorget feathers appearing either black or brilliant metallic red, depending on the angle from which it is viewed.

IRIS: The pigmented portion of the eye.

J

JUVENAL: Pre-adult.

K

KEEL: The raised central portion of breastbone of a bird to which the large flight muscles (pectorals) are attached.

KINGDOM: The highest level of biological classification. Hummingbirds are in the kingdom called "Animalia."

L

LEUCISTIC: Appearing at first to be an albino because of white feathers, but having normally pigmented (dark) eyes, feet, and beak.

LIFT: A condition, caused by air flowing over a wing, that allows a bird to rise in the air.

LONGEVITY: How long something lives.

M

MASS: The correct term for an object's "weight."

MEMBRANE, NICTITATING: See nictitating membrane.

METABOLISM: The physiologic activity of an organism. Hummingbirds are said to have "high metabolisms" because their fast-paced activities burn energy at a rapid rate.

MIGRATION: When an animal departs an area and returns, usually in a later season or year. Different from dispersal, in which an animal leaves an area but does not return.

MIST NET: See net, mist.

MISTER: A device, usually hooked to a garden hose, by which a fine mist is sprayed to provide hummingbird with water for drinking and bathing.

MOLT: To lose feathers and then replace them. In Hummingbirds molting of the wing and tail feathers normally occurs on the wintering grounds. Some young (Hatch Year) males may begin to molt their white juvenal throat feathers in early fall before they migrate south; by the next spring those Second Year males that return will all have a complete set of colored throat feathers.

MONOMORPHIC: Having the same appearance (morphology). In most Hummingbird, adult females, young females, and young males all look alike and are said to be "monomorphic." See dimorphic.

MORPHOLOGY: External appearance.

MORTALITY: Death.

N

NATIVE: Found naturally in an area; indigenous. A native plant that is a natural nectar source for hummingbirds is adapted to the local habitat but may become choked out by invasive exotic plants from elsewhere.

NECTAR: A high-calorie, carbohydrate-rich, easily metabolized liquid produced by flowers. It is a major natural food for hummingbirds. (See also fat and protein.)

NEOTROPICAL: Pertaining to the New World tropics; i.e., the tropical regions of the continents and islands in the Western Hemisphere (including North, Central, and South America).

NEST: A structure in which the eggs are laid and chicks are raised.

NESTLING: A baby hummingbird still in the nest; also called a chick.

NET, MIST: A large (12m x 2m) device used to snare flying birds for banding. Birds are taken from the mist net quickly after capture and are banded and released unharmed.

NICTITATING MEMBRANE: The bird's "third eyelid;" a semi-transparent membrane that covers the eye while a bird is flying, protecting it from drying out.

O

OIL GLAND: See uropygial gland.

ORDER: The fourth highest main level of classification.

ORNITHOLOGY: The study of birds.

OVARY:The organ in a female that produces the ovum (unfertilized egg).

OVIDUCT: The tract within a female bird through which the ovum or egg passes.

OVUM (pl. OVA): An unfertilized egg still within the ovary or oviduct of a female bird.

P

PECTORALS: The large paired flight muscles attached to the breastbone (keel) of a bird.

PENIS:The male intromittent organ that facilitates transfer of sperm. In hummingbirds, there is no penis, so copulation consists of the touching of the tips of the cloacas of the two mating birds.

PHENOLOGY: The study of change, especially with regard to changes that occur to due the seasons.

PHOTOPERIOD: The relative length of daylight to darkness. When days become increasingly short in autumn, it appears to stimulate hummingbirds to migrate south for the winter. Lengthening days in spring appear to be the cue to return to the breeding grounds.

PHYLUM: The second highest level of classification.

PIN FEATHER: A new feather, just being produced by the feather follicle, that has not yet flattened out and is shaped like a pin. See quill.

PLUMAGE: Feathers.

POLLEN: The male reproductive cell of a plant. Serves as one source of protein for hummingbirds that pick up pollen when they visit flowers to get nectar.

POLYGAMY: A social system in which a male mates with more than one female. Many hummingbirds are polygamous and are sometimes said to have a "harem." See promiscuity.

POPULATION: All the members of one species that live in the same area.

PRECOCIAL: Also see altricial.

PREDATOR: An animal that takes other animals as prey, usually killing them before eating them.

PREEN: To groom feathers with the beak or feet. Often involves anointing feathers with oil from the uropygial gland.

PREY: An animal that is taken by a predator.

PRIMARY: See feather, primary.

PROMISCUITY: Mating with more than one individual without forming a permanent bonds. Male Hummingbirds may be promiscuous because their relationship with a female essentially ceases after mating. See polygamy.

PROTEIN: A organic compound consisting of peptide-linked amino acids. Ingested by hummingbirds in the form of insects or plant pollen. Necessary to produce build and repair muscles, body organs, etc. Also see fat and carbohydrate.

Q

QUILL: A new feather just being produced by the feather follicle. When birds are undergoing molt and are partially covered by pin feathers, they are said to be "in quill."

R

RAPTOR: In birds, a hawk or owl that preys upon or scavenges other animals.

RECAPTURE, FOREIGN: A banded bird recaptured at a site away from where it was originally banded. Foreign recaptures provide information about dispersal, migration, and longevity.

RECOVERY: An encounter with a banded bird that is not alive, i.e., one that may have been killed when it flew into a window or vehicle, was taken but not eaten by a cat, etc. Recoveries provide information about bird dispersal, longevity and migration.

RECTRIX (pl. RECTRICES): Tail feather.

REGURGITATE: To bring food back up from the digestive tract after swallowing. Female hummingbirds regurgitate a slurry of nectar, pollen, and insects from their crops to feed their young.

REMIX (pl. REMIGES): Primary (wing) feather.

RETURN: An encounter with a banded bird that comes back to the same location where it was banded. Returns provide information about site fidelity and longevity.

RING: An international name for a bird band. Except in the United States, banders are usually called "ringers."

RIPARIAN: A habitat near water. Hummingbird nests are often found in riparian situations, i.e., near streams or ponds.

RUMP: The general area of a bird where the lower back and base of the tail join. The rump is sometimes marked with distinctive plumage. Hidden beneath the rump feathers is the uropygial gland.

S

SECONDARY: See feather, secondary.

SECOND YEAR: A bird in the year after the year it was hatched is a Second Year bird. The year begins on 1 January regardless of when the bird actually hatched.

SHELL GLAND: A gland within the oviduct of a bird that secretes calcium that hardens around the yolk and white to form an eggshell.

SHELTER: One of the important components of hummingbird habitat. Shelter includes places to hide from predators and the elements, as well as nesting spots.

SITE FIDELITY: The degree to which an animal returns to a specific site, usually at the end of its migrational route.

SPECIES (pl. SPECIES): The lowest major level of classification.

SPERM: The reproductive cell produced by the male.

SUBPHYLUM: A sublevel of the Phylum level of classification.

SUGAR WATER: A standard mix of four parts water, one part table sugar that is placed in a hummingbird feeder as an artificial food source. The mix is high in carbohydrates but supplies no proteins or fats; hummingbird feeder mixes that contain minerals, vitamins, and proteins are commercially available but are relatively expensive compared to table sugar.

SUMMER: That period from June through August in which the majority of reproduction goes on. See winter.

SUMMER RANGE: The area of North America in which the Hummingbird breeds and spends the "summer" months (late March-September). See winter range.

SY:Second Year.

SYMMETRICAL: Showing similar shape; half of asymmetrical shape will be the mirror image of the other half.

T

TAXONOMY: The science of arranging organisms into groups, based on how closely they are related.

TERRITORY: An area, usually defended, in which an animal lives, feeds, and/or mates. A Hummingbird will defend a feeding territory that includes flowering plants and/or a hummingbird feeder.

TESTIS (pl. TESTES): The male reproductive organ that produces sperm.

THROAT: Also see gorget. The feathered "chin" area underneath the lower base of a hummingbird's beak.

TONGUE: The structure by which a hummingbird drinks nectar, using its brush-like tip to lap the fluid from flowers or artificial feeders. Hummingbird do NOT use their beaks like a straw to suck up nectar.

TORPOR: A overnight lowering of body temperature. On cold nights, a Hummingbird can lower its body temperature by about 15 degrees C (30 degrees F), thus conserving energy that would be required to maintain its normal temperature. The next morning, the hummingbird speeds up its metabolism and get its body temperature back up to normal (40.5 degrees C or 105 degrees F) within a few minutes.

TRAP, PULL-STRING: A device for capturing hummingbirds in which a feeder is hung within a trap. When a hummingbird enters the trap, the bander pulls a string to shut a trapdoor that captures the bird. The bird is removed, banded, and released unharmed.

TRIPLE-BEAM BALANCE:A device used for massing hummingbirds.

TROCHILIDAE: The Family name for all hummingbirds.

TRUNCATE: Having more or less squared tips, as in the tail feathers of many older birds. See acute.

U

UNDERTAIL: The region beneath the tail feathers, as in undertail coverts.

UROPYGIAL GLAND: A skin gland on the upper surface of a bird's tail that produces oil used to maintain feathers.

V

VAGRANT: A wanderer that shows up in unexpected places. Several species of hummingbirds native to the southwestern United States appear as vagrants in the eastern U.S., especially in late fall and early winter.

VASCULARIZED: To have increased capillaries and, therefore, increased blood flow. In a female bird with a brood patch, the belly skin becomes vascularized, and the increased blood flow more efficiently transmits her body heat to eggs or chicks.

VERTEBRATA: The Subphylum in which the Hummingbird is placed. A vertebrate is a chordate whose spinal nerve is protected by vertebrae of bone or cartilage (a "backbone").

W

WATER: An essential component of hummingbird habitat. In the wild, hummingbirds drink dew and rain drops and bathe in small pockets of water in leaves; they will also bathe by flying repeatedly through mist formed by a misting nozzle attached to a garden hose.

WHITE: The protein-rich layer that forms between the yolk and the shell of a fertilized bird egg. See albumin.

WING CHORD: A standard measure of bird wing length, from the bend of the bird's wrist to the tip of its longest primary feather.

WINTER: That period from October through mid-March when the birds are in Mexico or Central America. See summer.

WINTER RANGE: The region in which a Hummingbird spends the winter months (October through mid-March); this primarily includes Mexico and Central America. See summer range.

Y

YELLOW JACKETS: Wasps that sometimes monopolize hummingbird feeders in dry summer weather.

YOLK:The intracellular food reserve of a fertilized egg. In birds, the yolk is yellow and becomes surrounded by the white.

YUCATAN: A peninsula of southern Mexico that juts into the Gulf of Mexico. It is suspected to be the location where most trans-Gulf migrant Hummingbirds first make landfall.

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