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Wing span of Bee Hummingbird (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Aranyani
- Start date
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Very easy to Google this kind of thing.
animalia.bio
Bee Hummingbird - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio
Basic facts about Bee Hummingbird: lifespan, distribution and habitat map, lifestyle and social behavior, mating habits, diet and nutrition, population size and status.
Aranyani
Well-known member
Yes, of course I googled the question first. I saw that report of 3.3 cm for the wingspan and other instances of the same figure, but I doubt them. Wingspan means from wingtip to wingtip. If the bird is 5-6 cm in length, how can the wingspan be 3.3 cm? Allowing even 1/3 of the distance for the chest, that would make each wing 1.1 cm long, which is the width of the tip of my little finger.Very easy to Google this kind of thing.
Bee Hummingbird - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio
Basic facts about Bee Hummingbird: lifespan, distribution and habitat map, lifestyle and social behavior, mating habits, diet and nutrition, population size and status.
The Vervain Hummingbird has almost the same weight (about 6 grams) as the Bee Hummingbird. According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Vervain's wing chord (length of one wing) varies from 3.61 cm to 4.03 cm — not the wingspan.
My guess is that someone at some time measured the wing chord of a Bee Hummingbird at 3.3 cm but wrote it up as the wingspan. And that ever since the error has been copied from site to site.
Now I need to know the length of the wing and/or wingspan. I'm hoping that someone might know of a source for actual measurements.
Aranyani
Well-known member
I see that I did not understand the definition of the a wing chord. It is not the length of a wing but the width from the leading edge to the trailing edge. So we don't have a wing length either for the Vervain Hummingbird or the Bee Hummingbird. But the wing span from wingtip to wingtip cannot be 3.3 cm. Can anyone corroborate or deny this, please?
pianoman
duck and diver, bobolink and weaver
I see the confusion, since many sites seem to repeat the 3.3cm wingspan figure. You never know when some sites are just cogging their info from others.
The actual wingspan figure seems to be about 4" (about 10cm), see the statistics at the bottom of this page:
Bee Hummingbird (Birds)
The actual wingspan figure seems to be about 4" (about 10cm), see the statistics at the bottom of this page:
Bee Hummingbird (Birds)
Aranyani
Well-known member
Piano Man ~ Thank you! This is what I'm looking for. Unfortunately I can't seem to reach that URL. I've tried a couple of browsers, and it does not go.
pianoman
duck and diver, bobolink and weaver
Weirdly, I can't access this myself now. I think the url is correct, the site is one called what-where-when.com but it appears to be down.
Strange how it is difficult to find an accurate wingspan measurement - the oft-repeated 3.1cm just has to be wrong. Amazing how many sites just recycle other site's information
Strange how it is difficult to find an accurate wingspan measurement - the oft-repeated 3.1cm just has to be wrong. Amazing how many sites just recycle other site's information
Xenospiza
Distracted
It gets even funnier when wikipedia mentions a credible 6.5 cm (Wingspan - Wikipedia) but refers to a site where it is given as 3.25 cm.
Maybe wing span and wing length got mixed up?
Anyway, people just copy it and don't give it any thought... just hoping to generate traffic.
Maybe wing span and wing length got mixed up?
Anyway, people just copy it and don't give it any thought... just hoping to generate traffic.
pianoman
duck and diver, bobolink and weaver
Thanks Xeno - hadn't thought of googling "wingspan" without mentioning Bee Hummingbird
I'm going to give up now before it drives me crazy
temmie
Well-known member
This is my picture:
You can measure it (more-or-less) yourself:
On my screen, the bird is about 18cm long. The wing is about 8.5cm long.
This is an adult male, and they are approx. 6cm long. So assuming that every measurement is 3x the life-size, both wings are 19cm long.
Ofcourse, we have to include the lenght between the shoulders of the bird. In case of a Bee hummingbird which isn't Atlas, I would guess that's max. 0,5cm (life size). So we have around 19/3 = 6.3 + 0.5 = 6.8cm for the wingspan. That would correspond with a wing chord of around 3.15cm, which is a bit similar to Vervain (just that bit smaller but that seems logic for a smaller hummer).
Does that makes sense...?
You can measure it (more-or-less) yourself:
On my screen, the bird is about 18cm long. The wing is about 8.5cm long.
This is an adult male, and they are approx. 6cm long. So assuming that every measurement is 3x the life-size, both wings are 19cm long.
Ofcourse, we have to include the lenght between the shoulders of the bird. In case of a Bee hummingbird which isn't Atlas, I would guess that's max. 0,5cm (life size). So we have around 19/3 = 6.3 + 0.5 = 6.8cm for the wingspan. That would correspond with a wing chord of around 3.15cm, which is a bit similar to Vervain (just that bit smaller but that seems logic for a smaller hummer).
Does that makes sense...?
