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Over the past two years I notice more street art prominently featuring hummingbirds than I’ve ever seen previously. Unfortunately, when I’ve seen them for real in my yard — my phone was never in hand to get any video or snapshots of them briefly pollinating the flowers. It’s amazing how quickly they seem to appear out of nowhere, do their pollinating business, and then off again in a flash!
With that in mind, at least I get to have longer lasting photo memories from artist depictions of these delicate, tiny creatures. Hummingbirds are small and fragile beings akin to butterflies and they have managed to adapt well within harsh desert conditions. Both of these small but mighty species migrate from southern Canada and northern U.S. locations to warmer climes in the autumn. They typically travel through places like Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas to their winter homes in Mexico or even further down to South America.
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So, for butterflies and hummingbirds (not even to mention other migratory creatures) they’re typically traveling 4,000 to 6,000 miles per season. At some points they are carried by wind currents, but still must accomplish this all within a few short weeks, averaging 50 miles per day — which I find to be an incredible feat! While researching more information about butterflies I learned that while the life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly (one of the most common types) is only about four weeks, the fourth generation of the Monarchs born in late summer live up to eight times longer than any of their predecessors.
The reason for this is because it takes the first three generations to complete the entire migratory cycle — the fourth generation has to finish this all on their own. These are considered to be the “super” generation as they have the greatest obstacles to overcome from weather conditions during the late year migration and must also reproduce so a new generation of Monarchs start the entire cycle all over again.
It’s also important to keep in mind that while bees do the lion’s share of plant pollinating around the world, other creatures like butterflies and hummingbirds are still a vital part of the ecosystem and account for around 20-25 % of pollinating so that we humans can eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, have honey and so forth. Aside from their vital functions in nature to assist in making crops flourish , butterflies and hummingbirds have great aesthetic value. They are gorgeous creatures to observe with their dazzling colors and rapid, elusive movements through our gardens and meadows as they’re busy at work continuing the endless, necessary functions of nature.
