"If you learned to play a musical instrument as a kid, you likely remember your first encounter with traditional music notation. You remember being baffled by the symbols denoting quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes. Or the difficulty of reading notes located above or below the staff. The Western system of music notation goes back hundreds of years, and it has been befuddling students for generations." A piano teacher and a data visualization professional team up to create Hummingbird, a new system of music notation which claims to make sight reading "easier to learn, faster to read, and simpler for even the trickiest music." [Via]
posted by Rykey on Apr 19, 2013 - 103 comments

Macroglossum stellatarum, known as the Hummingbird Hawk-moth or sometimes the Hummingmoth, is a species of Sphingidae (the family of moths that includes hawk moths, sphinx moths, and hornworms), and a beautiful example of convergent evolution.
posted by ocherdraco on Feb 27, 2013 - 38 comments

Snoring Hummingbird (SLYT) Watch closely for sticky-outy tongue!
posted by Mizu on Nov 11, 2012 - 16 comments

World Memory Champion Ben Pridmore can memorize a deck of playing cards in under 30 seconds. Sometimes he imagines elaborate, on-the-fly tales of absurdity to aid his memorization. One such story was brought to life by DJ Shadow (way previously) and a cast of thousands: Scale It Back (bonus, helpful recall of entire story at end of video)
posted by obscurator on Nov 25, 2011 - 15 comments

The Rufous Hummingbird measures only 4-inches, but it can pack a lot of beauty into that small package. Often described as "feisty," it weighs just a little more than a penny. With a migratory range of 1500 km, the Rufous has the longest known avian migration proportional to its size.
posted by alms on Nov 29, 2010 - 31 comments

Rescued hummingbird. (SLYT)
posted by hippybear on Oct 28, 2010 - 77 comments

Phoebe, a non-migratory Channel Islands Allen's Hummingbird, has a live webcam and eggs that are hatching soon.
posted by jjray on Mar 14, 2010 - 23 comments

Hummer Ices-up, Crashes, Recovers (SLCCTP)
posted by ZenMasterThis on Jan 17, 2010 - 24 comments

Russ Thompson is the Hummingbird Whisperer (SLVid).
posted by Dipsomaniac on Mar 16, 2009 - 28 comments

The annual northward migration is in full swing. The first time you see one on your feeder for the new season is cause for a big smile (maybe a little waving of arms). These little guys can weigh as little as a penny, yet will consume nearly twice their body weight every day. Have you guessed? Yes, it's a hummingbird flight of fancy. (Attenborough video) [more inside]
posted by netbros on May 4, 2008 - 26 comments

O: What sounds like a minature smoke alarm with a dying battery and has a tongue half as long as itself?
posted by y2karl on Jan 13, 2002 - 17 comments