I thought I was a well-traveled dog, but I guess I was wrong.
My human and I have walked all over the place, and we’ve seen some pretty amazing sights. I’ve seen all kinds of animals, from squirrels to birds to raccoons to cats.
But I’ve never seen anything like this.
My human supposedly got it as a pet, but I’m not sure how it can be a pet. I thought pets were supposed to be cute and cuddly? This thing is like a flying, buzzing ball!
At first, I thought it looked like a bird, but there’s no way it can be a bird. I’ve seen birds (as I mentioned already), and they don’t fly like this. Birds soar through the air, gliding on their wings. They don’t move this fast, nor are they this energetic.
Because I’m a curious dog, I just let this thing buzz around for a while. It kept exploring the rest of the house like it was looking for something. I wonder if it can smell through that beak-looking thing on the front of its face? Can it smell me when it gets close?
After my encounter, I decided to do a little digging. I borrowed my human’s computer and searched through the interwebs for some answers. Was it one of those drones I keep hearing about? I’ve heard that they can buzz around, so maybe?
Aha! It’s called a hummingbird! I never knew that a bird could flap its wings so fast – it must be magic!
Anyway, I found out some cool things about this new “pet” sharing our house.
- First, I discovered that they can’t, in fact, smell. Even though their beaks are pretty big for their bodies, they only use them to get nectar from flowers, whatever that means.
- Second, these things have the largest brain-to-body proportion of any wild bird. I guess they need a pretty big brain to fly around so fast. I get dizzy whenever I chase my tail! I can’t imagine keeping up with one of these things.
- Hummingbirds often live about five years, but I guess some of them can live to be 10? That’s pretty old for something so small! By the time it reaches 10, I’ll be 50 or 60!
- Finally, I saw a bunch of people asking whether hummingbirds can stop for any reason. Apparently, most people think that hummingbirds have to stay moving or they die. I’m really glad that that’s a myth – otherwise, I would never get any sleep!
So, there you go. My new roommate is a hummingbird, and I’m still not sure how I feel about that.
