Here’s a hummingbird doing the teeniest little “honk-shuuuu” you ever heard in your life.
The researchers don’t know exactly why it’s making that noise, but it probably has something to do with awakening from torpor (a kind of deep sleep where the bird lowers its metabolic rate, body temperature, and oxygen use to conserve energy). As the bird rouses itself from torpor, its oxygen needs increase, and the noise may be an effect of trying to get more air. Which makes this actually the cutest gasping for breath you ever heard, and that’s a little creepy, so we’re going to stick with calling it “snoring.”
