Q&A Blog | World Hummingbird Day
Christopher Clark
Fly into this World Hummingbird Day Q&A blog with Dr. Christopher Clark, a UC Riverside researcher and associate professor studying hummingbird flight biomechanics, evolution, ecology and much more!
Q&A Blog
Published September 4, 2021
All images provided courtesy of Christopher Clark.
As a Hummingbird Researcher and Expert, what led you to study this specific species and when did you know this species was the one for you?
I was in a diner in Idaho, shortly after finishing undergrad at Washington State University, and before arriving at the University of Texas to begin graduate school. As I sat, eating lunch, I watch hummingbirds come to a feeder right on the other side of the glass. I thought to myself: “Hummingbirds are really cool, and they’d be easy to catch!”. So at this moment I decided I wanted to study something about them for my Ph.D. I can tell you right now that sometimes they are very hard to catch (it depends on whether you’re trying to catch one particular individual).
Throughout your academic endeavours and career as a researcher and professor, who were your mentors/role models?
I have had lots of role models. Another Hummingbird biologist, Doug Altshuler, at the University of British Columbia, has helped me in various ways throughout the years. Another biologist that sometimes studies hummingbirds, Brett Tobalske, has been an instrumental colleague, a gentle soul and very generous with his time. My postdoctoral supervisor, Rick Prum, has also been a role model. Rick especially is fun to talk to about ideas. Late in my Ph.D. there was a brand new assistant professor, Sheila Patek, who was down to earth in ways that many of the professors at UC Berkeley were not. And speaking of professors at UC Berkeley, Jim McGuire was also a role model. I was fortunate to be able to help teach the vertebrate natural history course that he led at UC Berkeley, for five years in a row! I now get to teach a very similar class at UC Riverside.
When finding out that Hummingbirds are making those loud sounds with their tail feathers during courtship displays, what was your initial reaction/thought?
I remember that day clearly: I had been previously telling people that I was pretty sure the CHIRP sound that Anna’s Hummingbirds make during their dive, was made vocally, and I was just going to verify that with my experiment. So when I got a male to dive (first proving he could make the sound when intact), then caught him in a trap and plucked his outer tail-feathers, it was the moment of truth. I came back 2 days later and brought a female in a cage and put her on his territory. He flew over, then started to ascend for a dive, and I knew that I was about to figure out the answer. If he made the sound while missing his outer tail feathers, then I would be certain the tail-feathers did not make the sound. But that’s not what happened. He went up for the dive, then shot down and… didn’t make the dive sound! My brain went crazy. I had three immediate thoughts. #1: That’s really cool! #2: I have to repeat this several more times to convince other scientists (and that’ll be a fair amount of work. And #3, I really really wanted to know what the other related hummingbird species were doing with their tails. They had narrower tail feathers, or more pointed, or wire-shaped, depending on the species. Were they all making sounds with their tails?
As a researcher, what in your opinion are the essential qualities needed to observe hummingbirds successfully?
I have very good hearing. I know their various calls, and they call all the time, which means that, normally, I hear hummingbirds before spotting them. I also have good vision and that helps too. They are just so darned small and fast!
Diving Anna’s Hummingbird
As you were studying Costa Hummingbirds, what was the most unique behaviour that stood out to you and why?
Costa’s Hummingbirds are fun. One thing that’s unique about the male is he does right-handed and left-handed dives when he dives! He first passes on one side of the female, and then on the other. And in each dive, he spreads only half his tail, right side of his tail in right handed-dives, and left side of his tail in left-handed dives. We don’t know of all that many animal behaviors where the animals are handed.
How do you think your research on biomechanics and behavioral ecology will contribute to educating the public on issues in these fields and assist with conservation efforts?
Regarding conservation, the most important thing for making people care is to make them aware of what animals are doing. People have to appreciate and like nature in order for them to want to do anything to conserve it. Hummingbirds are really charismatic animals, and people that don’t care much for other animals, do like hummingbirds. So one benefit of hummingbirds is they can serve as a gateway to get people to care. This especially can happen in latin America, where people in the countryside may start to feed hummingbirds, and this leads to more interactions with nature. Actually that happens in the US as well.
I have very good hearing. I know their various calls, and they call all the time, which means that, normally, I hear hummingbirds before spotting them. I also have good vision and that helps too. They are just so darned small and fast!
As you were studying Costa Hummingbirds, what was the most unique behaviour that stood out to you and why?
Costa’s Hummingbirds are fun. One thing that’s unique about the male is he does right-handed and left-handed dives when he dives! He first passes on one side of the female, and then on the other. And in each dive, he spreads only half his tail, right side of his tail in right handed-dives, and left side of his tail in left-handed dives. We don’t know of all that many animal behaviors where the animals are handed.
How do you think your research on biomechanics and behavioral ecology will contribute to educating the public on issues in these fields and assist with conservation efforts?
Regarding conservation, the most important thing for making people care is to make them aware of what animals are doing. People have to appreciate and like nature in order for them to want to do anything to conserve it. Hummingbirds are really charismatic animals, and people that don’t care much for other animals, do like hummingbirds. So one benefit of hummingbirds is they can serve as a gateway to get people to care. This especially can happen in latin America, where people in the countryside may start to feed hummingbirds, and this leads to more interactions with nature. Actually that happens in the US as well.
Dr. Clark doing field work in Cuba in 2012 (Center), with the famed ornithologist Arturo Kirkconnell (right) , in search of the Cuban Bee Hummingbird
What challenges did you encounter throughout your years of researching this unique avian species?
Perhaps the biggest challenge is how small they are. I would love to put instruments on them, like a GPS collar to study where they move, and we can’t, the GPS collars weigh too much. They are also hard to see and hard to watch as they fly around their territory. Other ornithologists can sit in a blind and watch their species mate (for example). With hummingbirds, you see a display, then the male and female fly out of sight, and the male comes back 30 seconds later. Did they just mate, out of sight? Or was the female fleeing because she decided she didn’t want to mate with this male? We just don’t know that much about their mating preferences because they are too small and are hard to watch.
What advice would you give to the youth who hope to also turn their interests at a young age into a successful career?
Be open to opportunities that come your way.
How can the youth and general public begin to make efforts to preserve and protect bird populations around the world?
I think the number one threat in the future is Climate Change. Right now it looks like Climate change is going to wreak havoc on native ecosystems. This doesn’t mean that all animals will die: some species of hummingbird are very adaptable and I think they will be fine. But many other species are probably going to be wiped out unless we change our society quick. The number one thing we have got to do is to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels (like coal or gas) and embrace carbon-free technologies such as solar power or nuclear power. That’s the # 1 thing to do to preserve and protect bird populations across the entire planet. Otherwise, climate change is going to wipe out species I have studied, such as the Bahama Woodstar, which has its entire population within a couple feet of sea level, meaning it is vulnerable to sea level rise.