Research project

A test

Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus Credit: Andrew Hurly (Size: 36.84 kb)

Dr. Andrew Hurly of the University of Lethbridge in Alberta studied the behaviour of 3 male Rufous Hummingbirds in the Rockies. He measured the periodicity with which they gathered pollen and nectar from 8 artificial flowers. Nectar was added to half of the flowers every 10 minutes, and to the other half every 20 minutes. Observations revealed that the hummingbirds returned to feed according to the schedule of each flower. Not bad for a brain that is 7000 times smaller than ours!