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Hummingbird is the popular term used to refer to several birds native to the Americas that constitute the biological family Trochilidae. With about 360 species, they range from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of species are found in the tropics.

In Brazil, some genera receive other names, such as the white-tails of the genus Phaethornis or the straight-billed of the genus Heliomaster. In the classification system of Sibley & Ahlquist, the family Trochilidae was part of its own order, the Trochiliformes. Among the group's distinguishing features are an elongated beak, a nectar-based diet, eight pairs of ribs, fourteen to fifteen cervical vertebrae, iridescent plumage, and an extendable, forked tongue. They are also popularly known as hummingbird, cuitelo, chupa-flor, pica-flor, chupa-mel, binga, guanambi, guinumbi, guainumbi, guanumbi and mainoĩ.

Most species are tropical and subtropical, living between latitudes 10ºN and 25ºS. The greatest biodiversity of the family is found in Brazil and Ecuador, which have about half of the known species of hummingbird. Trochylids are absent from the Old World, where their ecological niche is filled by the family Nectariniidae, of the order Passeriformes.

Physical characteristics

Hummingbirds are small birds, which measure on average 6 to 12 centimeters in length and weigh from 2 to 6 grams. Most of the beaks are normally long, but the precise shape varies greatly with the species and is adapted to the shape of the flower that forms the basis of food for each type of hummingbird. A common feature is the forked and extendable tongue, used to extract nectar from flowers.

The skeleton and muscular constitution of hummingbirds are adapted to allow a fast and extremely agile flight. They are the only birds capable of flying in reverse and remaining motionless in the air. Wing beats are very fast and can exceed 80 times per second. In contrast, hummingbirds' feet are too small for the bird to walk on the ground. Females are generally larger than males, but have less intense coloration. They live, on average, 12 years and their incubation time is 13 to 15 days.

Behavior

Like most birds, the sense of smell is not very developed in hummingbirds; the vision, however, is very keen. In addition to being able to identify colors, hummingbirds are one of the few vertebrates capable of detecting colors in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Hummingbirds' diet is based on nectar (about ninety percent) and arthropods, in particular flies and ants.

Hummingbirds are polygamous.