FOR AGES 3 YEARS TO 18 YEARS
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Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
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There are so many occupants of the natural world that if an individual decides to look around and search each and every single one of them from the microscopic world to the macroscopic large animals he will be fascinated by each detail particularly in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts scrub. In this fact file, we will discuss one such beautiful little North American bird, Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae). Costa's hummingbirds are native to the arid regions of the USA and Mexico. Costa's hummingbirds breed in both places but spend most of their winter in Mexico. Claude Marie Jules Bourcier is the expert on Costa's hummingbirds and was the first person to describe this bird in 1839. The scientific name of Costa's hummingbird is Calypte costae and was discovered by a famous French nobleman.
Here are great facts about Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae), native to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. For more relatable content, check out these rufous hummingbird facts and bee facts for kids.
Male Costa’s hummingbird is a bird of the genus Calypte of the family Trochilidae. This bird is native to the southwest United States and northwest Mexico's desert habitats. It spends most of the winter in Mexico. This bird was first discussed and described by Claude Marie Jules Bourcier, a French nobleman and naturalist.
Male Costa’s hummingbird belongs to class Aves, phylum Chordata, and kingdom Animalia. It further belongs to the family Trochilidae, the family of hummingbirds with about 360 species in total and the order Apodiformes. In the winter season, these birds only migrate till northern Mexico.
Male Costa's hummingbird breed in good numbers in their habitat of desert scrub with flowers. There is no proper count of their population but they are found in good numbers.
Male Costa’s hummingbirds search for an arid environment and preferably warm desert regions and garden areas with bushes. They are native to the southwestern United States and Baja Peninsula California of Mexico but mostly spend their winters in Mexico.
A male Costa's hummingbird’s habitat is a range of shrubbery or forked branch of a tree in gardens and desert regions with some amount of vegetation with moderate climate. They build their nests there instead of tree cavities and nest boxes as they search for pleasant places to spend the night.
A hummingbird Costa’s just like any other hummingbirds search and prefers solitary life in a moderate climate. Hummingbird Costa's prefer dwelling alone and do not flock and migrate in groups. Hummingbird Costa's may only come together during the mating season.
A Costa’s hummingbird on average lives in a range of 5-10 years in the wild. In captivity or in a bird sanctuary under experts' care, they may live for longer than 10 years.
During the courtship and mating display during the breeding season, they perform a series of swoops and arching dives. They do so to show off their violet plumage and attract their mates for breeding purposes. Males dive near the branches where the females are around and produce sounds with their tails. Using their vocals they produce a variety of songs and sounds making breeding calls. After courtship display, they will mate and the female lays eggs in the cup-shaped nest she constructs using a range of lichens, plant fibers, and spider webs. They lay around two eggs and incubate them for a range of 18 days. The young ones born leave the nests after a range of 20 - 23 days after birth.
The population range of Costa's Hummingbird is stable for now and they are listed as Least Concern species of birds under the IUCN Red List.
A Costa’s hummingbird is a small-sized bird. The male birds have green-black plumage, a black tail, white patches below their throat and tail, and flanks. Females are similar to males except they have a white belly above which they have grayish-green plumage.
The young birds are really cute. Especially due to their small size and their plumage color and their overall stout and small appearance they appear even more attractive to the pedestrians during their flight and dive.
The Costa’s hummingbird has their own ways of high-pitched communication. Hummingbirds chitter and use their high-pitched vocal abilities to communicate with one another. Besides, they also use their vision to find their way.
Even an adult Costa’s hummingbird is a really small, cute bird that is twice or smaller than a crow bird. Their wingspan measures somewhere between 4.3 in (11 cm) and the adult bird may grow around 3-3.5 in (7.6-8.9 cm) in length. Calliope hummingbirds and Anna's hummingbirds are a bit bigger than these birds.
Adult Costa’s hummingbirds fly with an average speed of 20-30 mph (32-48 kph). During their flight and especially during the courtship display these North American birds flap their wings very fast around 10-80 times in a second while hovering.
A cute little Costa’s hummingbird is a very lightweight bird. An average male bird weighs around 0.1 oz (3.1 g) in weight and the female Costa’s hummingbird may weigh around 0.11 oz (3.2 g) in weight. Swamp sparrows are five to six times bigger than them.
A male and female Costa’s hummingbird may be different in the slight coloration of the plumage but otherwise, they are almost similar in size and other features. Besides, males and females do not really have separate names and are referred to as male Costa’s hummingbird and female Costa’s hummingbird.
A Costa’s hummingbird is generally referred to as a chick. But when they are out of eggs they are referred to as hatchlings and for the period they stay in the nest they are referred to as nestlings and when they are finally able to fledge they are referred to as fledglings.
A Costa’s hummingbird mainly found in deserts feeds on flower nectar usually but they may also eat up the small insects that crawl around the flower. This is an indication of the omnivorous nature of these North American birds.
These food-oriented beings found in deserts are not at all dangerous. Hummingbirds do not impose any harm to the humans but a male defending his territory of food may get aggressive with other male birds in his territory. Besides, the female bird may get aggressive while protecting her chicks from predators.
Laws are against petting these birds. A Costa’s hummingbird may not be able to survive in an enclosed area because they constantly feed on nectar from the flowers. This is one reason hummingbirds may be found in zoos or their natural habitats.
A Costa’s hummingbird shows a state called torpor which is a hibernation-like state. In this, they are able to slow down their metabolism especially during the winter nights. Their heart rate and respiration rate slows down and they are able to conserve energy.
Some of the special qualities of hummingbirds are the ability to fly forward, backward, or even upside down! Moreover, they are the only vertebrae that are able to hover during their flight.
Ecuador houses the largest amount of hummingbirds as well as hummingbird species in the world, with around 135 species present in the country.
Claude Marie Jules Bourcier, a French nobleman is attributed as the discoverer of this bird species.
Esmeraldas woodstar is the smallest hummingbird and is also the rarest. These tiny birds measure barely 2.5 in (6.3 cm) long and are restricted to a small area in western Ecuador.
Rufous-crested coquette is the most beautiful hummingbird found in the tropical regions of Pacific South America. These birds are really and are rarely sighted.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these turkey facts and northern harrier facts pages.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable costa’s hummingbird coloring pages.
Read The Disclaimer
At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents.
We try our very best, but cannot guarantee perfection. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family.
Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
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