Hummingbirds Pictures

Picture source: Animal Diversity Web © 1995-2004 The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors

Native Americans extolled and worshiped the bird. Mayan aborigines believed that the hummingbird was the incarnation of the sun. Ancient Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli, the mightiest god, had sprung from a hummingbird feather ball that had descended from heaven.

Small size and a unique manner of flying placed the hummingbird at a crossroads between the worlds of insects and birds. Its varied and gorgeously bright fledge has earned the species dozens of different names, such as sapphire vented puff leg, peacock coquette, shining sunbeam, and so forth.

Among the first Europeans to know the hummingbird were Christopher Columbus and Gonzalo Fernandez de Ovie, a Spanish explorer. Shortly after Christopher returned to Europe, a hummingbird skin was presented to Pope Leo X in Rome.

By mid 19th century, the hummingbird trade was in full gear. Dried hummingbird bodies and feathers were used as dust catchers; fanciers had plumage collections and women's hats were decorated with humming bird bodies and feathers. This resulted in the killing of hundreds of thousands of hummingbirds. It was not until the acceptance of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918 that the killing of hummingbirds subsided.