Hummingbirds

Shell Creek supports a rich diversity of flowering plants that attract hummingbirds, tiny birds able to hover by turning their wings upside-down on the backstroke to create a figure-eight motion that holds them stationary in the air. They can also fly forward, backward, up, down, side-to-side, and even upside-down. Each day they eat one and a half times their weight in sugar from wildflowers growing in Shell Canyon, an activity level compared to a human eating the equivalent of 285 pounds of hamburger daily. Among the 340 known species, females are difficult to distinguish, while males are readily identified by bright iridescent colors. Hummingbirds found here include the Broad Tailed Hummingbird, whose bright pink chin and wingbeat produce a rattling sound or trilling whistle; the Black Chinned Hummingbird, with a deep purple chin and a bill much longer than that of the Ruby Throated hummingbird; the Calliope Hummingbird, the smallest bird in North America, with a rose-purple chin mixed with white above a nearly white breast and a short bill; the Rufous Hummingbird, marked by dominant orange-red color and arriving at Shells Falls after a 3,000-mile journey from southern Mexico; and the Ruby Throated Hummingbird, whose male is about 25% smaller than the female, averages 3 to 4 inches long, and weighs about the same as two and a half paper clips.

Wyoming · United States