By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Stunning: The quick-witted hummingbird hovers in mid-air to drink from the garden sprinkler


These stunning photos show a family of hummingbirds cooling down from the sweltering weather by flying through water from a garden sprinkler.

Photographer Marie Will captured the fantastic images as the birds hovered in the air and refreshed themselves with the cool droplets.

The 39-year-old wears a bright red jumper so that she can get closer to the birds.


Pecking order: The bird is caught mid-flight


She put a garden sprinkler on her lawn and adjusted it to its slowest movement setting in order to photograph the Rufous Hummingbirds in mid air.

Marie said: 'My photographs show the playful, spirit of wild hummingbirds - they look like they are having so much fun, like a child playing with the garden hose.

'I live next to the river which brings in a lot of birds. I usually take the photos in my back garden.

'They like to feed on the plants in may garden and also cool down with the sprinkler.


Angelic: The tiny bird was captured in on camera in Oregon, U.S.


Dropping in for a drink: the colourful birds visit the garden every day


'My home office extends off to a deck that has large glass sliding doors which lead to my garden.

'I put the garden hose with the sprinkler attached close to the deck and set the spray on slow.

'My photography needs good weather because when it is sunny and bright I can capture the bird's beautiful colours.

'Most hummingbirds disappear during cold weather, but my hummingbirds stay here all year round.

'No matter if it snows or not, I am constantly refilling the feeders with sugar water I make." Marie, from Oregon, U.S., added: 'I make sure my cat is put in the house or he chases all my birds away.'



Friend of the birds: Marie Will uses a sprinkler and wears a red jumper to attract hummingbirds to her garden to get her incredible pictures


source : dailymail

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Thirsty: With wings flapping 90 times a minute and heart rates over 1,200 bpm, hummingbirds need many times their own body weight in nectar every day


Spectacular new close-up footage of hummingbirds has shaken established wisdom about how the tiny creatures drink - and could even help engineers create a more efficient mop.

Ornithologists Alejandro Rico-Guevara and Margaret Rubega of the University of Connecticut built transparent flowers to allow them to film high-speed, magnified footage of hummingbird tongues flicking into nectar.

As the video shows, instead of simply sucking up the liquid, the tiny birds' tongues have tubes which open down their sides when hitting nectar. When the hummingbird retracts its tongue, the tubes snap shut and carry the nectar back into the beak.


New mystery: If researchers can see how hummingbird tongues move into the beak, they might be able to understand how fluid can be extracted so quickly


Researchers had believed that hummingbirds' high-speed drinking was down to capillary action - the same natural law that causes liquid to rise up the sides of a narrow tube.

The shape of the birds' tongues supported the idea, while its efficiency made intuitive sense. But there was one glaring flaw in the model.

The laws of physics dictate that hummingbirds should prefer nectar with a sugar concentration of about 20 to 40 per cent - any more sugary and the solutions would be too thick to rise quickly. But the birds often sup fluids with double that level of sugar.

If researchers can see exactly how hummingbird tongues move into the beak, they might be able to understand how the fluid can be extracted so quickly.

The lessons learned from the hummingbird's tongue could help with the design of self-assembling electronics, fluid power microchips and even liquid sipping robots.

But the discovery could yet have more mundane applications.


source: dailymail