The Long Trek
Think about how easy it is to get from point A to point B in our society, both physically and informatively. Hop in your car, get on the freeway, and you can be at a distance in twenty minutes that would have taken our ancestors two or three days (though it may feel that long anyway, sitting in rush hour Atlanta traffic). If you have the resources, you can be on the other side of the world in twelve hours’ time. With a click of a button you can speak face-to-face real time with someone hundreds of miles away, or download one of the classics of literature in just a few seconds.
With all of that in mind, picture of trip of roughly five hundred miles. Say you’re driving, so that puts you at about a six and a half hours on the interstate (assuming you’re the type that considers the speed limit to be discretionary).
Now take away the car.
Now, imagine you’re about the size of a penny?
What’s going on? Did ARWS suddenly start a science fiction blog? Not at all. The voyage we’re talking about is the annual migration of the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. This mighty mini weighs less than an ounce and, in and in one continuous twenty four hour flight, treks arduously from Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico every year.
As amazing as this is, however, there are other species of hummingbirds that travel over ten thousand miles in search of food, mating rights, or avoidance of predators.
As Autumn looms upon us, our tiny friends will be departing soon for warmer climates. Don’t friend though, Ruby Throat aficionados, the males of the species will be back as early at late January, with the females joining them in the spring. For those of you who will be eager lookouts in 2015, the young males will have a “five o’clock shadow” of dark throat feathers, with the females having a series of lighter streaks.
As our zig-zagging little adventurers begin their southward expedition, we with them a safe and prosperous journey. Once the holidays and the New Year have come and gone, we will be eagerly waiting the arrival of the next generation of these delicate and mighty aerial acrobats.
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