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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