How do hummingbirds get to the south when they require a huge amount of nectar an hour just to live?
Do hummingbirds migrate by riding “piggyback” on other birds? This persistent bit of folklore – usually citing geese as the carrier – must date from an earlier period, before much at all was known about hummingbird migration. In fact, a helpful reader wrote: I believe it was John J. Audubon who, if not started, helped to strengthen this myth. As you may or may not know, he shot and ate many of the birds he painted. He reports shooting a goose and upon retrieval, turning it over and out flew a hummingbird. I’m afraid I don’t have the book in hand nor the source, but I do recall reading this either from his journals or another creditable source citing Audubon. Therefore, this “myth” may have been started by the namesake of the major bird society in this country. There is not a shred of evidence to support this whimsical concept, however colorful the idea may be. [humor alert!] Perhaps, as one wag postulated, a hummingbird was once seen carrying a goose back to the nest in her talons, to
