Preening Hummingbird

​Hummingbirds are little clean freaks. Just about every time a hummingbird perches, it will scratch, and preen itself with its seemingly awkward long beak. They have the ability to stretch their neck to unusually long lengths in order to direct their beak to where it needs to go. 
Even their hidden feet will suddenly appear from within that plump little feathered belly and scratch at approximately 10 strokes per second. Everything is done swiftly but so accurately. 
One little nuisance hummingbirds have are flower mites. They are extremely common with hummingbirds. These mites feed on the nectar and pollen of flowers. When hummingbirds insert their beak into a flower to feed, these little mites quickly grab hold of the beak and nostrils of hummingbird to hitch a ride until they reach a suitable flower to feed from. These mites pose no threat to hummingbirds, but simply move from one flower to the next in the same way that hummingbirds do, in search of food. 2015

---