Hummingbird Video

Hummingbirds are amazing birds to watch as they zip around wildflowers or backyard feeders. These little birds actually are quite diverse--with more than 300 species found in the Americas (they aren't found on other continents).

Idaho has three species. But South America is the real haven for hummingbirds. Ecuador is home to 131 species, many of them found in the cloud forest. Hummingbirds in South America display a surviving a diversity of colors, beak shapes and sizes. And some--like the marvelous spatuletail in the video above--have really bizarre display behaviors.

This video was on the Conservancy's Cool Green Science blog today, and comes via the American Bird Conservancy, an organization that is calling attention to the loss of habitat for Peruvian wildlife including the marvelous spatuletail .--Matt Miller