approximately how big does the average hummingbird get
Many hummingbird species routinely migrate 500 miles (800 kilometers) or more every year. The rufous hummingbird migrates a whopping 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) from Mexico to Alaska, where it breeds during the summer. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm (3–5 in) range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm bee hummingbird, weighing less than a U.S. penny (2.5 g). The giant hummingbird's wings beat as few as 12 beats per second and the wings of typical hummingbirds beat up to 80 times per second. A slow-motion video has shown how the hummingbirds deal with rain when they are flying. These petite birds consume between 3.14 and 7.6 calories a day. That may not seem like much, but if humans (who may eat 3,500 calories a day) had the metabolism of a hummingbird, they would have to consume approximately 155,000 calories a day. It's easy to tell female hummingbirds from young of the year ... if you can get close enough for a good look. Until their first adult molt, juvenile hummers' green contour feathers have a thin, tan or light gray outer edge. This is most apparent on the head, and gives a scaled appearance. Hummingbirds digest their food rapidly due to their small size and high metabolism; a mean retention time less than an hour has been reported. Hummingbirds spend an average of 10–15% of their time feeding and 75–80% sitting and digesting. One of the fastest birds is the green violet-ear hummingbird. It can fly up to 93 miles per hour (150 kilometers per hour) for short distances. Hummingbirds are so quick that they can easily escape predators like snakes, falcons, jays, toucans, and cats, unless they are taken by surprise. Keep the lamp at least a few feet from the feeder. Anna's Hummingbirds in coastal California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island do not migrate at all, and a year-round feeder usually means year-round birds. It depends on the size of the bird. The largest, the Giant Hummingbird, has a wingbeat rate of 10-15 per second. The fastest recorded rate was about 80 per second, on a tiny Amethyst Woodstar, and the slightly smaller Bee Hummingbird-the world's smallest bird-may have an even faster rate. Common small North American hummers like the Ruby-throated and Rufous average around 53 per second in normal flight. Other birds, such as orioles and roadrunners, occasionally eat hummingbirds. Even though hummingbirds are small in size, they have a large appetite. Their diet is mostly liquid—nectar—and these birds get plenty of exercise with all that zipping around just to get from sip to sip.
7.5–13 cm (3–5 in) range.