Sleeping hummingbird "snores" in Peru

a female Amethyst-throated Sunangel (Heliangelus amethysticollis) sleeps in Peru. (check out pictures added below)

EDIT #2 (2-Mar-2012): Explanation of the birds behavior: "This certainly looks like a bird in deep torpor that is starting to arouse. Quite a few years ago I worked on torpor metabolism in broad-tailed hummers in Colorado, and this is what they looked like. I don't recall any of the broad-tails doing that bill-gaping behavior but my guess is that this bird is doing exactly what you suspect: it's in the early stages of arousal from torpor after disturbance. The gaping might be a way to breath deeply and bring in plenty of oxygen: when they are disturbed in torpor, they 'try' to warm up as quickly as possible and that involves intense shivering. But initially, they are too cold for high-speed muscle action so it's hard to see the shivering movements." The high pitched squeaking sound it is making is likely a cute side-effect of the gaping for oxygen.

EDIT: Alright, Thank you Reddit for blowing this up. Lets clear a few things up here. The bird is in a container that is attached to machines that measure how much oxygen the bird is consuming. The noise you are hearing is the hum of the machines in the background (the main one being the FoxBox... http://www.sablesystems.com/products-prod_foxbox.html?sub=details). The noise is actually a lot more quiet than it seems, for whatever reason my camera picked it up and made it sound a lot louder. This experiment was performed with the guidance and supervision of some of the top experts in tropical ornithology. The investigation was fully permitted and performed in a world renowned research facility. This bird was not harmed whatsoever, it was fed with sugar water throughout the experiment and was released safely. All of the hummingbirds measured like this consumed a very low amount of oxygen at a very stable level as compared to other, larger birds, which suggests that they were in torpor, or a state close to torpor. After the experiment was done, I watched the bird fly away myself, it was fine. And yes, I know it may not actually be snoring. Even the supervisors of the project are unsure why it is making that noise. I have asked them to look into it since this video has received so much attention. I have been studying ornithology for years and am currently a Masters student studying birds. The welfare of birds means the world to me, and I am dedicating my career to their conservation.

see pictures of hummingbirds from this project: http://s1152.photobucket.com/albums/p489/forrestertr7/Hummingbirds/

People who make uninformed, ignorant comments obviously without reading the description will be blocked

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Tags:

• Peru
• Sleeping
• Hummingbird
• funny
• cute
• bird
• animal
• snore

[forrestertr7]

I have received an explanation from a professor working on this project about why the bird is acting this way and making this sound. Please see Edit #2 in the video description.

[AngelaTheGoddess]

Dear forrestertr7, great video, and I love your "EDIT" response :)

[reapapear]

Thank you so much for sharing forrestertr7! <3 what a cute little thing! I want to hug him, and stroke him, and cuddle him, and sing to him, and call him George. <3

[tambourini]

It's tongue is hanging out too!

[super13218]

why cant i hold all of this awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww­wwww

[TheRambonxious]

as honeydew would say... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA­AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA­WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW­WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW­WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

[Hatehackers205]

LOL!

[LeoparDrs1]

ябывдул

[ChristOOpher1011]

awwwwww so cute! *-*

[MisuzuKisaragi]

Such a cute fluff!

[TF8ase]

Oh my god it's so adaorable

[jonashaglund]

@reapapear It's a female! :@

[Amphy720]

@taylover4 Read the description.