First Nest!

Hummingbirds use energy at extremely high rates due to their small size and high metabolism. They must conserve energy by going into nightly torpor, drastically dropping their metabolic rate and body temperature. We aim to quantify the energetics associated with nesting female hummingbirds using thermal imaging. We predict that in order to incubate their eggs well, they will rarely use torpor. This has important implications for understanding how animals cope with extreme energetic requirements.