Here is a snip from one of David Cloud's news letters.
THE AMAZING HUMMINGBIRD (Friday Church News
Notes, April 15, 2011, www.wayoflife.org
[log in to unmask], 866-295-4143) - The 300
species of hummingbirds vary in size from the
giant hummingbird, with a length of about eight
inches (20 cm.), to the bee hummingbird, with a
length of about two inches (5 cm.). The
hummingbird’s wings beat a figure eight pattern
which allows it to hover and fly backwards (by
moving the wings in a circular path over its
head), sideways, and even upside down. It can
beat its wings up to 200 cycles per second and
can reach speeds of 50 miles per hour. The wing
muscles necessary to drive this flight system
represent up to 40% of the bird’s total body
weight. Its long, thin beak is designed to feed
on the nectar of flowers; its tongue has two
furrows that it uses to store the nectar. The
tongue can go in and out at a rate of 13 times
per second, and is stored by being curled up at
the back of the bird’s head. Its tongue is also
fringed so it can sweep insects from inside
flowers. “It cannot survive on nectar alone, but
also needs protein from eating insects. Without
its special tongue it could never catch these” (A
Closer Look at the Evidence, July 14). One type
of hummingbird is the fastest diving bird on
earth. “A peregrine falcon diving toward its prey
reaches a relative speed of 200 body-lengths per
second. This is close to the 207 body-lengths
that the space shuttle travels as it enters our
atmosphere. Thus, the peregrine falcon was
thought to easily be the fastest dare-devil bird
on Earth. Scientists have now discovered that a
little pink male hummingbird called Anna’s
Hummingbird is the real Top Gun among the birds.
As part of its mating ritual, a male hummingbird
will try to impress a female with his speed and
acrobatics. First, the male will fly up to about
90 feet above the ground. Then, he begins a power
dive. As he nears the female, he pulls up,
ascending again. During that near-miss pull-up he
experiences more than nine times the force of
gravity. His relative speed during descent is 385
body-lengths per second. That’s almost twice the
peregrine falcon’s relative speed; it’s faster
than the space shuttle entering the Earth’s
atmosphere and is more than twice the relative
speed of a jet fighter running with afterburners”
(http://www.creationmoments.com/radio/transcript.php?t=2889).
One type of hummingbird can fly 500 miles nonstop over the Gulf of Mexico.
John
Currently in Ocala, Florida Partly Cloudy, 80°F Wind:ESE-110° at 7mph
e-i-e-i-o: A gross misspelling of the word 'farm'.
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