Photo

Photo courtesy of Julie Schulberg

Zipping in and out of flowers, this ruby-throated hummingbird gets a meal of nectar. These hummingbirds eat twice their weight per day. Their heart beats around 1,200 times per minute and wings whirr and blur about 53 times per second. A marvel of flying, they can zip off in any direction, even flying backwards. If you want these hummingbirds to visit your yard, plant flowers that are red, orange and pink. Red, however, is the color they favor most.