The family Trochilidae , found only in the Americas. There exist around 325 species, which are grouped in 107 genera.

Hummingbirds contain the smallest birds in the Aves kingdom with many less than 8 cm in overall length and weighing between 3 to 8 grams.
They are amazing flying machines which can hover in the air and even fly backwards. A unique figure-eight motion of their wings with a beat of up to 78 a second enables them to do that. This fast wing beat also produces the distinct humming sound, from where its popular English name derived.

They have a long, slender bill with an extensible tongue, which enables them to feed on nectar within the flowers. They are very important pollinators for flowers and both adapted to each other over time. Pollen are deposited on the bill and then transported to other plants.
Another important food source are tiny invertebrates , which are taken from the flowers or in flight.

Most hummingbirds lay 2 eggs in nests in tree branches, camouflaged with lichens and mosses. One kind, the hermits, however build hanging nests and those are also the ones, which do not have the famous bright, radiant and metallic colors of other species but are brownish and plain looking in appearance. Although the males are tiny, they are strongly territorial, defending it ferociously.

Ecuador boasts of 132 species grouped into 57 genera, representing almost half of all hummingbirds in the world.
They are found anywhere in Ecuador, from the foot of glaciers right down to the Pacific ocean or Amazon Lowlands.

The small hummingbirds are well adapted to many different environments and can be even found in city centers of large towns. The ones, which live in the high altitudes close to the glaciers, developed a state of torpor, comparable to a nightly hibernation, by lowering their metabolism through a drop in its body temperature by 25°C, thus surviving the cold and freezing paramo nights.

As they are too small to be eaten and do not serve as mascots or zoological exhibits, they are relatively safe of man and other predators.