Do hummingbirds use cool perches so they can fly in the heat?

Most of our data will be collected at the Southwestern Research Station (SWRS) which is located on the east slope of the Chiricahua Mountains in the far southeastern corner of Arizona. SWRS is an ideal place for our work because it supports healthy populations of three hummingbird species (see below) that exhibit three distinct foraging strategies potentially offering potential variation in how body temperature is managed during hovering. Also, the environment around SWRS is thermally complex making it ideal for studies of microhabitat selection. Because SWRS has good laboratory facilities all our planned experiments can be supported.