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Jolty the Joltik (

joltymcjolterson) wrote on August 25th, 2012 at 11:19 pm

[ 0069 ]

More tiny birds! If I could do two whole days of ducks, then I can certainly give a day to these little wonders. Someone requested hummingbirds, and of course I'm happy to provide. These are all very tiny things- in fact, the smallest bird in the world happens to be one of them! That'd be the bee hummingbird, which is in the first pic here, and the real life version of it is even smaller than what it looks like on the screen.

The humming part of their name comes from the characteristic sound that their wings make when they go as fast as that, and watching them in flight is a real treat! They can go up, down, backwards, sideways- basically they're tiny nectar drinking helicopters, with a lot of emphasis on the nectar drinking part. Because of how fast they move, their metabolism is intense- so much so that they end up having to take in more than their own weight in food every single day, and can only survive overnight with what they do store up before it all repeats again.

Here's one last fact for you for today: hummingbirds very often use bits of spider silk to reinforce and bind their nests together, to make the structure stronger than it is. This unique building material also allows the nests of the birds to expand a little as the chicks grow. Neat, isn't it?

source

source

And as for the spider...

Here it is!

source

This is really quite a bold spider- which is what it's called. That, or the daring jumping spider. Phidippus audax is one of the most common jumpers that can be found in America and southern Canada, and generally like roaming around flat surfaces- which includes decks and the insides of buildings. As far as jumping spiders go, they're pretty big, usually larger than a centimeter, and can actually go up to two centimeters in length at their very largest. Like the regal jumping spider from the other day to which it's related, they also have irridiscent chelicerae; bright metallic greenish-blue chelicerae, in this case.

If you ever see one in real life, congrats! Take a photograph of it or something- and don't worry too much if it hops on you for a bit. Like their name, they can be curious, but would never bite humans unless threatened (like if you accidentally roll on one, for instance). Even if they did, though, the absolute worst that would happen would be a small bit of pain and slightly reddish skin. These really aren't very nasty at all.

source

The humming part of their name comes from the characteristic sound that their wings make when they go as fast as that, and watching them in flight is a real treat! They can go up, down, backwards, sideways- basically they're tiny nectar drinking helicopters, with a lot of emphasis on the nectar drinking part. Because of how fast they move, their metabolism is intense- so much so that they end up having to take in more than their own weight in food every single day, and can only survive overnight with what they do store up before it all repeats again.

Here's one last fact for you for today: hummingbirds very often use bits of spider silk to reinforce and bind their nests together, to make the structure stronger than it is. This unique building material also allows the nests of the birds to expand a little as the chicks grow. Neat, isn't it?

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/ctLZb.png">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/universityofreading/5201332538/">source</a>

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4004/4698958232_e7c2d53168.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32614064@N03/4698958232">source</a>

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4138/4862410552_5a16bc3548.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32614064@N03/4862410552">source</a>

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4085/4837550833_6c921ed02b.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32614064@N03/4837550833">source</a>

<img src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/253/447876990_1f3cabdfec.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66238250@N00/447876990">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3252/2738879721_23839e5a80.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7818331@N02/2738879721">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3463/3958955046_8a4bca37d8.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70938611@N00/3958955046">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3110/3126197310_a8ee957207.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11168597@N07/3126197310">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3129/2633824567_93e28fbed3.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11168597@N07/2633824567">source</a>

<img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1143/1441590310_32be687e38.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70938611@N00/1441590310">source</a>

<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2042/1751968367_9ee380e63a.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11168597@N07/1751968367">source</a>

<img src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/196/495033773_3f0ec456b4.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23084352@N00/495033773">source</a>

And as for the spider...

Here it is!

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4154/5042513747_7cbf8429fd.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/65987396@N00/5042513747">source</a>

This is really quite a bold spider- which is what it's called. That, or the daring jumping spider. Phidippus audax is one of the most common jumpers that can be found in America and southern Canada, and generally like roaming around flat surfaces- which includes decks and the insides of buildings. As far as jumping spiders go, they're pretty big, usually larger than a centimeter, and can actually go up to two centimeters in length at their very largest. Like the regal jumping spider from the other day to which it's related, they also have irridiscent chelicerae; bright metallic greenish-blue chelicerae, in this case.

If you ever see one in real life, congrats! Take a photograph of it or something- and don't worry too much if it hops on you for a bit. Like their name, they can be curious, but would never bite humans unless threatened (like if you accidentally roll on one, for instance). Even if they did, though, the absolute worst that would happen would be a small bit of pain and slightly reddish skin. These really aren't very nasty at all.

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/5075199182_565c1629a6.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/65987396@N00/5075200474">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3650/5790477031_5a7d00cf5f.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8047442@N06/5790477031">source</a>

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