A Penny from a Hummingbird
Guest post by Ernie Allison
A penny for your thoughts?
I was asked this question the other day, and I got to
thinking about it. I opened up to the person who offered me that imaginary
penny. Why? A penny’s not worth very much. On second thought, should I be
offended that my thoughts are worth so little?
Of course, I knew that this was not the intent, but it got
me curious about the history of the idiom. It turns out that it’s quite old,
dating back to hundreds of years, when a penny could actually buy something.
The idea behind offering someone a penny for their thoughts
is to show them that their thoughts are worth something to you. This makes it
more likely that they will open up and share what’s on their mind. This is
often used when someone is feeling down or having a problem. The penny-offerer
wants to be allowed to help, and show their willingness to do so by offering a
(figurative) payment.
This got me looking up other sayings and facts about pennies.
Unsurprisingly, a search on “facts about pennies” does not yield very
interesting results, but as a birdwatcher, I do know that the weight of
hummingbirds is often compared to pennies.
In fact, hummingbirds can weigh anywhere from 2-20 grams. A
penny weighs 2.5 grams. So if a hummingbird gave you a penny, would it be worth
more?
In weight, yes. And the effort that was given would be more
than worth your random thoughts. But is a penny worth anything to a
hummingbird? They can’t eat it. It can’t be used as shelter. Currency is
worthless. So perhaps a hummingbird would not even think to offer a
penny for your thoughts. Maybe they’d offer a flower petal, or a very small bit
of nectar. Maybe they’d offer a piece of a nest.
A hummingbird’s weight is not the only interesting thing
about them. Their metabolisms are so fast that they eat up to 3 times their
weight each day! Before migration they actually double their weight, which
means a large diet increase. By the end of their trip, they’re back below
average! This is why it is helpful to hang your feeders now, at the beginning
of migration season, just in case some of your humming visitors decide to come
early this year. Check out hummingbird
migration tracking maps to see if there have been any sightings in your
area yet.
In order to get all that nectar, hummingbirds have a pretty
interesting tongue. Scientists used to think that hummingbirds used their
tongues as straws to suck up nectar. But it turns out that their tongues are
forked, the better to lap up nectar with.
There is a very valuable printing of pennies from 1955 that
is double imprinted. This error makes the pennies unique and therefore
desirable. You can sell a penny, which isn’t actually worth what it costs to
produce, for thousands of dollars because of this. Does the hummingbird’s
double-forked tongue make them valuable? The flowers probably think so.
So, here’s where I offer you a penny for your thoughts. What do you find most
interesting about hummingbirds, or any animal for that matter?
Ernie
Allison loves nature. More specifically, he loves birds and wants to teach
others how to appreciate them, too. When he's not sharing his stories with
others, he's watching his hummingbird feeder
and trying to get decent pictures of the quick critters.
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