Spider Assassin

Sure…she looks sweet, petite and innocent, but beneath that tiny hummingbird breast beats the heart of a skilled killer. She is a spider assassin! (By the way, that heart beats at about 250 beats per minute while resting and about 1,260 beats per minute while flying.)

This photo could be used as evidence in an avian court to convict her. You can clearly see strands of spider web stuck to her beak and a bit on her head. As further evidence, take a look at a photo I entitled Delicate Delight; posted a few days earlier.  If you look closely at this image of another female hummingbird captured in flight, you will notice little bits of spider web stuck to her beak, too.

Most people mistakenly think that a hummingbird’s diet consists solely of nectar from flowers and feeders that people hang in their garden.  Hummingbirds also need protein. They get that protein from a variety of bugs…including spiders.

And here’s another fascinating fact about the world’s tiniest birds – hummingbirds use spider webs to build their nests.

Here are some notes from worldofhummingbirds.com – –

Hummingbirds love to eat small bugs like gnats, aphids, and spiders. The hummingbirds will even eat all of the bugs out of the spider web, eat the spider, and then steal the web to help build a nest.

[To build a nest] She likes to use nice soft material like moss and lichen. She also likes to use cotton fluffs, bits of willows, soft plant pieces, dryer lint, and leaf hairs. She will bring these items back to her nest a little at a time, gluing it all together with spider webs. The spider webs make terrific glue for the nest, allow the nest to stretch and be flexible as the baby hummingbirds grow, and make it easier for the mother hummingbird to repair the nest when kids do what kids do.

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(This image has been enlarged a great deal to make it easier to see the spider web.  If you’d like to see an even larger version, simply click on the photo.)