Why Does A Humming Bird Hum?

 Today I attended (via Zoom) a presentation at the Duluth Audubon Society by Noah Comet who teaches English at the US Naval Academy. He specializes in 19th century British Studies. But he also loves nature and birds and is a Master Naturalist too. He talked about hummingbirds by first asking if we thought hummingbirds were feminine or masculine. Everybody said feminine and his informal searches on Amazon for t-shits with hummingbirds said the same thing. In ancient Mayan history (2000 BCE-1700 CE) the name for a hummingbird was dzu-nu-um which is a onomatopoeia because it sounds like the sound of a hummingbird. Back then the hummingbirds were considered to be male. Hummingbirds are aggressive like some males. Hummingbirds can be violent like some males. I know because I had one flying right in my face and I asked it to please not poke me in the eye.  They are fearless when they fly around your head as you refill the feeder. Hummingbirds are the national bird of Jamacia. Nazi military officials studied hummingbirds from South America at the Berlin Zoo. They wanted to build a helicopter that could fly in all directions like a hummingbird. The German word for hummingbird is Kolibri. The Germans were able to build a hummingbird helicopter which is crazy to think about. Not wanting to end with the Nazi's he asked, why does a hummingbird hum? Dad joke. Because it doesn't know the words. LOL