UPPER WEST SIDE — A tiny hummingbird is braving New York's winter to give American Museum of Natural History visitors a real life look at the wonders of the wild.
The minuscule bird — just three inches long and weighing little more than a penny — has been braving sub-freezing temperatures to amaze Upper West Siders by flitting through bushes outside the museum's Rose Center for Earth and Space on West 81st Street, between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West.
While tourists bundled in furs and boots wandered into the Rose Center to gawk at interstellar wonders Thursday afternoon, the Rufous hummingbird that usually winters in Mexico put on the real show outside, darting among green leaves, hovering to thrust its slender beak into improbably verdant blossoms for a sip of nectar.
The hummingbird's wings became a brown blur as it maneuvered between branches, pausing for a moment, then zipping backwards and sideways like a tiny helicopter.
Though it's not unheard of for Rufous hummingbirds to be seen in the northeast, they are unusual visitors. They're native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, and migrate south for the winter.
But their tiny size is deceiving — the birds are surprisingly hardy and can withstand temperatures well below freezing.
The Upper West Side bird's iridescent green markings suggest that she's a female.
She's been feeding on the Mahonia japonica bushes that flank the Rose Center's entrance, the New York Times first reported.
The emerald plant, which blooms in the winter, appeared to have a drug-like hold on the hummingbird, which ignored an enticing-looking feeder nearby and zeroed in on the japonica blossoms.
"If he had a brain in his head he'd be in Florida," said Upper West Sider Ben Sishowltz. "What the hell is he doing flitting around out here in the middle of January?"
Guards stationed just inside the Rose Center within view of the bushes said the pint-sized ornithological marvel had drawn a crowd of birdwatchers with fancy cameras earlier in the day.
"Nature has a way of taking care," said one guard. "Those flowers are still blooming. Maybe it was meant for the bird. It's a mystery."
"I'm not a bird person, so I don't know too much about it," said another guard. "They say he's not from the east. He's from the west. Maybe he got blown here by mistake?"
Another guard chimed in, "Maybe he took a bus here from Wisconsin."
Outside, a family of German tourists stared at the bushes, talking excitedly about "der Kolibri" — German for hummingbird.
Upper West Sider Tom Lawler strolled over to the bushes, walking his two Corgis.
"Is that a hummingbird?" Lawler asked. "I always see people taking pictures at this plant, and never realized why."
He added, "I'm from Wisconsin. There were always a bunch of hummingbirds by my house."
