(NOTE: I was given a copy of this book but all opinions are my own.)
We have had a hummingbird feeder for a long time. (Can you see the hummingbird in the picture below?)
Our grandkids always love it when they see hummingbirds at the feeder. Sometimes, they’ve seen 6 at one time!
Kids who like watching hummingbirds will enjoy reading My Tiny Life by Ruby T. Hummingbird (A Nature Diary) by Paul Meisel. It’s a diary ‘written’ by Ruby, who is a baby ruby throated hummingbird. Through her entries, readers get an inside view of what life is like for a hummingbird.
Ruby says that her mother feeds her insects and nectar. (No worms for Ruby!)
And, that in a mere 3 days after birth, Ruby has doubled in size. Once she learns to fly, she can even fly backwards. (Who knew?!?)
Ruby is territorial. She doesn’t like other hummingbirds to drink the nectar from flowers that she considers hers. (We see this type of scrimmage all the time among the hummingbirds at our feeder.)
At the end of September, Ruby drinks lots of nectar and eats lots of bugs in preparation for her big migration journey. She leaves the home where she was born and flies all the way to Mexico (or Central America).
She stays there until March when she heads back home.
This a fun story! Readers learn about these birds from one that has a saucy personality.
At the end of the book, there is a glossary and extra information about ruby throated hummingbirds. Astonishing ones like:
- They can fly upside down.
- They can fly up to 60 miles per hour when in a dive.
- They don’t have a sense of smell.
- Only males have ruby colored throats and the feathers aren’t really red. They just look red because of the way they reflect light.
- To get to their breeding grounds faster in the spring, they fly 500 miles over the Gulf of Mexico without stopping (which usually takes between 18 to 24 hours).
- Ruby throated hummingbirds live only in eastern North America. (So we will never see one at our feeder.)
- Hummingbirds do not live in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica.
Paul Meisel (author and illustrator of this book) has authored and illustrated over a dozen books. He’s illustrated over 90 other books. In addition, he does editorial, educational and advertising illustration. (Busy man!) This is the fourth book in the critically acclaimed Nature Diary science series.
You can get this delightful book on Amazon for $9.
