The Insane Biology of: Hummingbirds

From moving faster than any other organism to flying across the entire planet and back, birds can do some very impressive things, but there is one avian family that stands out from the rest. Hummingbirds may just have the most insane biology of any bird in the world, and trust me when I tell you, you've never seen a bird that can do what they can. These tiny creatures are all-star athletes in their own right and have the personalities to match, and the way they make their unique lifestyle work is nothing short of mind-blowing. Ready to find out what makes hummingbirds the most impressive birds on earth? Keep watching!
Filming the staggering diversity of hummingbirds in the Andes was one of our biggest goals for our trip to Ecuador, and none of it would have been possible without our good friend Emilio ‪@AnimalEncountersEP‬. Emilio is a veritable local expert and a talented birder and educator, and between his guidance in the field and his generosity with his hummingbird footage, we never could have made this video without him. Also, exploring the country alongside Rex from / mistersceloporus , Jack and Gage from ‪@JacksWorldofWildlife‬ and Spencer ‪@MyWildBackyard‬ made the journey even more rewarding, suffice to say we'll have to get this crew together again soon. Finally, we wanted to shout out the incredible folks over at ‪@realscience‬ for the inspiration behind this video, their Insane Biology series is one of our all time favorites, and it was a ton of fun to try our hand at a deep dive in this style. Collab one day?
All still images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (creativecommon... ). We cannot thank the artists enough for their talent and their generosity in sharing it, and the contributors we featured are listed below in order of their graphic's appearance.
Karta24, Dominique222, Andy Morffew, Brocken Inaglory, Asmus Koefoed, Alan Schmierer, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Thomas Fuhrmann, Vickie J Anderson, Charles J. Sharp, and Amaury Laporte.
Music:
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Myst on the Moor
( • Kevin MacLeod [Officia... )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Twisting
( • Twisting )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Journey to Ascend
( • Journey to Ascend )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - River of Io
( • River of Io )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Artifact
( • Artifact - The Dark Co... )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Envision
( • Envision )
Song: Kevin MacLeod - Half Mystery
( • Half Mystery )
Song: Savfk - The Travelling Symphony
( • The Travelling Symphon... )
Welcome to The Wildlife Brothers channel! We are Harrison and Evan Black, passionate zoology enthusiasts and conservationists, and it is our ambition to educate and inspire people to conserve our world's wildlife! It has always been our dream to get people excited about wildlife, from the local animals in your backyard to the endangered species in dire need of our help.
By bringing our passion, knowledge, and skills onto a global platform we hope to introduce you to the wildlife we love, and start a conversation that will help make a difference in protecting the natural world. The time to act is now, so join us as we explore our world's ecosystems and encounter the incredible species that call them home! We're glad to have you with us, so let's get going!

[@JacksWorldofWildlife]

Fantastic stuff boys! Love hummingbirds so much!

[@MyWildBackyard]

SICK shots guys. Prime bird content right here

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Much appreciated man! Filming hummingbirds is a ton of fun, someday we’ll drag you out to see the background noise up close

[@joykurtz7355]

Truly fascinating - gorgeous birds

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you Grandma! They really are stunning, the camera doesn’t do them justice.

[@Ragtter]

Excited to watch this, guys, thank you!!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you for watching, we hope you enjoy!

[@chisaquaticvibe6524]

You guys are awesome!

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much, you’re awesome too! We appreciate your support more than we can express. Thanks for watching!

[@smetlogik]

Good timing, our 4 hummer feeders are seeing a lot more activity recently due to the AZ wildflowers losing their appeal. Getting hot. 133 species in Ecuador alone is nuts to me. For their size, it's amazing how far some of them migrate. Another good one, I see those subs climbing up there.

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

The hummingbirds in AZ are pretty special, it’s now a mission of mine to film the courtship displays of Anna’s and calliope hummingbirds, it’s crazy cool. Thank you so much for the support as always, it really means the world. Ecuador has more than a bit of everything, but now that our production run is winding down, we’re looking for more places to explore… 🌵🐍🦎

[@pearrlescent]

oh my gosh??? i can't believe you guys don't have more recognition? this is such an incredible video!! the production and editing is wonderful, and the information is factual... i don't get it!! i can't wait to see you guys grow as a channel -- there's no way you'll go unnoticed for long. thank you so much for these videos, and keep going!! i'd love to see more :)

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you for your kind words, and your support! It seriously means more than you know, we put everything we have into these videos and to know that we’ve actually been able to reach awesome people like you is what makes it all worth it. KZbin is a slow grind, but we’re not gonna stop until we make it work. Can’t wait to show you more!

[@ThePollaton]

They’re so beautiful, I lived in Washington state when very young and I always remember them coming to feed every day on our porch. Not as many as that but still it was wonderful to see ❤

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

They’re gorgeous birds, and the camera does no justice to what it’s like to have dozens of them all flying around you trying to feed, it’s incredible to watch. The hummingbirds that reach Washington are quite special, I’d love to film a rufous or an Anna’s hummingbird one day. Thanks for watching!

[@SkiesTurnedGrey]

You two always make such informative and thorough videos. I can't believe you don't have more subscribers and viewers. And the extra effort to actually go to the location! The quality of these shots, and the information, is right up there with the top KZbin channels, in my opinion. Plus, you're both cute as heck, so that's just a little bonus to the great animal content! Only one problem...how do I choose which of you to have a crush on? 😂

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

That means the absolute world, thank you so much! We’re fortunate to be learning from some of the best, and I’m really glad that you’re enjoying the content as we grow. I can’t even express how much your kindness and support means to us, it’s people like you that really keep us going and make all the late nights and long days in the field worth it. Thank you for everything!

[@TheWildReportOfficial]

Great work with this video! This footage is gorgeous, and I had no idea that so many humingbirds were capable of co-existing without the competition excluding certain species, especially the smaller ones. I wonder how the changing distributions of pollinating plants as climate patterns change will impact these inter-species relationships.

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much Ben! The level that hummingbirds have taken niche partitioning to is pretty crazy, and the level of diversity that it supports makes for some unforgettable feeding congregations. Climate change is gonna cause some radical changes for hummingbirds, I imagine some shifts along both geographical and elevational gradients are going to be pretty pronounced in our lifetimes. Maybe that can be the subject of a video one day. We really appreciate you watching Ben!

[@vernonfridy8416]

While hummingbirds are definitely a classic as far as “wonders of extreme biology” go, I don’t think I’ve seen these four biology topics (bird metabolism, coevolution of pollinators, mate choice, and structural coloration) all rolled together in one high-quality video. Well done! A technical criticism: the title looks way too similar to the titles of “Real Science” videos.

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much! We always appreciate your feedback, and I’m very glad that you felt that we covered these topics in a comprehensible way. There’s so much to talk about with hummingbirds, so we were spoiled for choice when it came to remarkable biological notes. The title for this video is directly inspired by Real Science, we actually shouted them out in the description because we want to give credit where it’s due for the strong title format. We never try to rip off or emulate too directly a creator’s unique style, but our philosophy of growth on KZbin is that the things that are working for the most successful creators on the platform are working for a reason, and we can learn and take inspiration from what is making a real impact in the algorithm. Our goal is never to steal outright or to claim that this title format is our original idea, but because it has generated a great deal of viewership, we wanted to create our own version of an episode titled in that way. As always, thank you for your kind words and your constructive criticism!

[@vernonfridy8416]

@@TheWildlifeBrothers Didn’t notice that. Thanks!

[@NYInsectFinders]

nice vid bros. hummingbirds are beasts. any new insect vids coming? 👉👈 hope ur both doing well 🫡

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Thank you so much for watching, we’re glad you enjoyed! We do have some exciting invert content coming soon, perhaps with some infamous eight-legged creatures 👀 We’re planning to shoot a lot more insect content now that we have a proper macro lens, so stay tuned! We’re both doing quite well, I hope you are too!

[@ThePollaton]

Flying not only with those long tails wow….Plus they wear great fluffy boots. 😂😂

[@TheWildlifeBrothers]

Right? They have great style, even though it looks like a lot to carry around when you have to fly the way they do.