The Dangerous World of Hummingbirds

When most people wish and dream of becoming birds, they fantasize about what it’s like to fly around and be carefree. While soaring through the sky is undoubtedly an amazing experience, being a bird is not always the easiest thing—particularly if you’re a hummingbird.

Hummingbirds, because of their size and behavior, face a whole range of threats we as humans never consider. To give you a better idea of the scary world hummingbirds face, I’ve compiled this short list of major threats to hummingbirds.

Weather

Whenever it starts to rain, we run for cover to escape the droplets so we don’t get wet. The experience of hummingbirds is quite different. A recent study, as covered in the New York Times, has found that hummingbirds can survive rainstorms by shifting their posture and speed. A drop of rain can be 38 percent of a hummingbird’s body weight. The water isn’t the only thing they have to worry about. High winds can push hummingbirds into objects or drown them.

There have also been some reports that excessive snow and freezing temperatures kill hummingbirds. Bad weather is a bad sign for hummingbirds.

Spiders

If you’ve ever walked into a spider web, it can be pretty annoying trying to get those sticky webs off. When you’re a small bird that flies into a web, it could spell your doom. Orb weaver spiders are apparently abundant on the Texas coast, according to Chron, and the huge yard-long webs entrap hummingbirds and other small birds.

In most cases, it takes the intervention of humans to save the trapped birds.

Birds

Even though all the birds seem to get along just fine at your hummingbird feeders, a big threat to birds is other birds. For example, the Tiny Hawk, which is found in Central and South America is known to prey on and devour hummingbirds. Other types of birds, like orioles and falcons, also feed on hummingbirds.

About Timothy Martinez Jr.

Timothy Martinez Jr. is a writer and freelance journalist. His work has been published in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Remapping Debate in New York City and other publications. He’s been a bird lover since he was young and currently lives in New Orleans, L.A.