Can Hummingbirds Tell Time? Scientists Discover That Hummers Are Brainy What Scientists Discovered   f Hummingbirds can keep track of time! Hummingbirds that defend territories with lots of flowers can remember when they last visited and emptied nectar from specific flowers. Each time a hummer empties nectar from a flower, its internal timer is reset. And it can do this all day long! This is the first time that this kind of ability has been shown in wild animals. Scientists once thought that only humans could remember where and when things happened! Specific findings The birds learned that refill rates differed among flowers. They visited the 10-minute (fast) refill flowers sooner than they visited the 20-minute (slow) refill flowers. The hummers learned that the specific flower refill times were 10 and 20 minutes. They did not return to flowers before they were refilled. They returned close to the times the blooms were refilled. The hummers also seemed to remember which flowers they had recently emptied. << Back to lesson Photos: Andrew Hurly This Season Teachers Kids Orientation Registration Search Copyright 1997-2008 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Questions or comments? Contact us.