Hummingbirds and Swifts

     As a result of my recent review of Sara Gibson's excellent book, Swifts and Us, and some subsequent correspondence I had with the author, I was asked by Hilary Melton-Butcher, that peripatetic seeker of knowledge, to explain the taxonomic affinity between hummingbirds and swifts. Like Hilary, perhaps many of you will find this fact of common ancestry a little surprising, but it is nonetheless, an established truth - subject to some some discussion about whether certain anatomical features reflect ancestry or convergent evolution! We may set that conjecture aside here.

     I don't think I can explain this without getting at least a little technical, so forgive me if I am causing your eyes to roll back in your head. It would easily be possible to make this post extremely lengthy, but I am going to try to cut to the essentials, while giving Hilary (and the rest of you) the explanation she is looking for.

     Both hummingbirds and swifts, along with treeswifts, are placed in the order Apodiformes, which means "without feet" and reflects the most significant similarity between the two. Feet have not been eliminated, of course, but they are barely functional in either species. Swifts, in fact, spend virtually all their lives on the wing, eating, sleeping and even mating in the air, using their feet which have sharp claws only to cling to the vertical surfaces on which they construct their nests. Hummingbird feet enable them to grip a branch but beyond that they are pretty much useless.

Cuban Emerald (Riccordia ricordii), Cienága de Zapata, Cuba

      The order Apodiformes contains the following families:

Treeswifts - Hemiprocnidae

Swifts - Apodidae

Hummingbirds - Trochilidae

     Shared characters are:

- modified cervical musculature

- the skeleton of flight apparatus

- wing muscle innervation, or feather tracts

- small to tiny birds with 10 primary feathers

- 6 - 11 significantly shorter secondaries

- all species are nidicolous (altricial)

- all species are gymnopaedic (naked, helpless young) 

     That, in a nutshell gives you the reasons for their grouping in one order.

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna), Somenos Marsh, Duncan, BC, Canada

      There are 359 species of hummingbird in the world and I have seen 137 of them.

Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera), Cabañas San Isidro, Ecuador

Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica), Cerro Azul, Panama

     Treeswifts are a small family comprising only four members and I have seen two species in Cambodia. We have no pictures of our own to share so this image is taken from the internet.

Crested Treeswift (Hemiprocne comata)

     Of the 113 species of swift in the world I have seen thirty, yet have never been able to get a photograph, nor has Miriam, and of the two of us, she would be more likely than I am to succeed.

     So, once again, I resort to the internet.

Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)

     In addition, Franc Gorenc kindly sent me a couple of his pictures.

Antillean Palm Swift (Tachornis phoenicobia), Varadero, Cuba

Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) chasing insect, Pag Island, Croatia

     I hope this gives you the information you are seeking, Hilary, and with luck it will enlighten others too.

Book Review - Hummingbirds, A Celebration of Nature's Jewels - Princeton University Press

 

     If there is one family of birds that captures universal enthusiasm and delight, it surely must be hummingbirds. Even people who have never seen a hummingbird, (for they are found only in the Americas), and have little chance of doing so, become rapturous over these tiny creatures. As the subtitle of the book says, they are nature's jewels.

     Glenn Bartley and Andy Swash, both seasoned hummingbird watchers, have presented a fine work here, drawing on their formidable photographic talents and knowledge of their subjects gained from many field trips to the various regions where hummingbirds are found. Bartley, a Canadian, has restricted opportunities to view hummingbirds on his home turf, and Swash, a Brit, no chance at all, which in some ways makes the book even more remarkable.

     At first blush this book might be thought of as "another coffee table book", but it is far more than that. There is extensive, thorough and exacting discussion of all aspects of hummingbird physiology and life style. I was particularly impressed with the excellent examination of colour and iridescence, critical to a true understanding of a hummingbird, yet relevant to all other bird species too. This section is wonderfully illustrated, as is the entire book of course, with accompanying text and diagrams, presented in a way that is easy to understand even for a reader with no prior knowledge of the science behind it. This section alone is worth the price of the book!

     Another chapter that I found especially fascinating was Bartley's discourse on his philosophical approach to photographing hummingbirds and the technical methods used to achieve the desired results. Not for this professional a casual walk - and point the camera randomly! Not at all! A shoot is planned with the precision of a military campaign! Bartley approaches every picture as a complete tableau, not merely an image of a bird, and the results are stunning.

     The photographs used to illustrate the book are proof enough that he has used his knowledge, skill, dexterity, physical toughness and mental acuity to approach perfection in the art of photography. 

     If I may be permitted one little whinge, I was left wishing that the photographs were more precisely identified. Having visited many of the locations referred to in the book, I would have preferred "Mindo, Ecuador" rather than just "Ecuador"; "Monteverde, Costa Rica" tells me more than simply "Costa Rica".

     I was delighted that the authors paid due homage to Alexander Skutch, that great naturalist of Central America, and one of my ornithological heroes. No contemporary work on hummingbirds would be complete without a nod to Skutch's seminal volume The Life of the Hummingbird. In the annals of ornithology there may have been no keener observer than Skutch. 

      In addition to the photographs, illustrations by Jeanne Melchels enhance the book in so many ways.

     The only factual error I found is on page 174, where it is stated, "The Ruby-throated Hummingbird......breeds from Texas eastwards along the Gulf of Mexico and north along the Atlantic coast to Nova Scotia and Québec." Clearly this is incorrect for there are records of this species breeding as far west as western Alberta, and it is a common breeding species in Ontario, Bartley's native province. The map on page 175 shows the full extent of the bird's breeding range, in contradiction of the statement on the previous page.

     The book concludes with a List of Species, with each genus highlighted by a species within that genus - very nicely done.

     In a world beset by loss of diversity, habitat destruction, the poisoning of land, inland waters and oceans, and the unfathomable disregard by Homo sapiens for the very keystones of continued life on Earth, I must leave you with the following dire statement from page 227.

"It is painful for me to think of a world with fewer species of hummingbird. Sadly, such a fate seems inevitable in the near future if conservation and habitat-protection measures are not ramped up dramatically."

     In summary, I think this is a wonderful book. None has pleased me quite so much of late, nor filled me with more foreboding for the future.

     If you love nature even a little, you need a copy of this book on your shelf.

Hummingbirds: A Celebration of Nature's Jewels

Glenn Bartley and Andy Swash

Hardcover - US$35.00 - ISBN 9780691182124

288 pages - 8.5 x 11 inches (21.25 x 27.5 cm)

550 colour photos - 25 colour and 57 black-and-white illustrations - 7 charts

Publication date: 19 July 2022