full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kristiina J. Hurme and Alejandro Rico-Guevara: The surprising secrets of hummingbird flight

Unscramble the Blue Letters


That's just a rough idea of what hummingbirds can do in several seconds. But if we hang around a little longer, we might see their aerial acrobatics put to a more deruoagns test. Hummingbirds keep tcrak of which flowers they've recently drained, as well as those they plan to drain next. And each bird will fight ruthlessly to defend this floral trerortiy from their only real competition: other hummingbirds. Using their spear-like bills and blindingly fast flight, duienlg hummingbirds chase each other through the air, arlvgssieegy stabbing and plucking feathers. The bills of some species are specialized for fighting, with sipny tips, hooks, or even saw-like searirtnos. Some hummribdings employ these aerial fencing techniques to chase off larger birds like hkwas and owls. But the most extreme fights are between male hummingbirds competing for flowers and females. Fortunately, these delus are rarely deadly. After 15 to 20 seconds, one bird will tyllcpaiy surrender— flying off to seek its breakfast elsewhere.

Open Cloze


That's just a rough idea of what hummingbirds can do in several seconds. But if we hang around a little longer, we might see their aerial acrobatics put to a more _________ test. Hummingbirds keep _____ of which flowers they've recently drained, as well as those they plan to drain next. And each bird will fight ruthlessly to defend this floral _________ from their only real competition: other hummingbirds. Using their spear-like bills and blindingly fast flight, _______ hummingbirds chase each other through the air, ____________ stabbing and plucking feathers. The bills of some species are specialized for fighting, with _____ tips, hooks, or even saw-like __________. Some ____________ employ these aerial fencing techniques to chase off larger birds like _____ and owls. But the most extreme fights are between male hummingbirds competing for flowers and females. Fortunately, these _____ are rarely deadly. After 15 to 20 seconds, one bird will _________ surrender— flying off to seek its breakfast elsewhere.

Solution


  1. typically
  2. spiny
  3. hawks
  4. hummingbirds
  5. aggressively
  6. duels
  7. serrations
  8. dangerous
  9. track
  10. dueling
  11. territory

Original Text


That's just a rough idea of what hummingbirds can do in several seconds. But if we hang around a little longer, we might see their aerial acrobatics put to a more dangerous test. Hummingbirds keep track of which flowers they've recently drained, as well as those they plan to drain next. And each bird will fight ruthlessly to defend this floral territory from their only real competition: other hummingbirds. Using their spear-like bills and blindingly fast flight, dueling hummingbirds chase each other through the air, aggressively stabbing and plucking feathers. The bills of some species are specialized for fighting, with spiny tips, hooks, or even saw-like serrations. Some hummingbirds employ these aerial fencing techniques to chase off larger birds like hawks and owls. But the most extreme fights are between male hummingbirds competing for flowers and females. Fortunately, these duels are rarely deadly. After 15 to 20 seconds, one bird will typically surrender— flying off to seek its breakfast elsewhere.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
hovering lets 2


Important Words


  1. acrobatics
  2. aerial
  3. aggressively
  4. air
  5. bills
  6. bird
  7. birds
  8. blindingly
  9. breakfast
  10. chase
  11. competing
  12. dangerous
  13. deadly
  14. defend
  15. drain
  16. drained
  17. dueling
  18. duels
  19. employ
  20. extreme
  21. fast
  22. feathers
  23. females
  24. fencing
  25. fight
  26. fighting
  27. fights
  28. flight
  29. floral
  30. flowers
  31. flying
  32. fortunately
  33. hang
  34. hawks
  35. hooks
  36. hummingbirds
  37. idea
  38. larger
  39. longer
  40. male
  41. owls
  42. plan
  43. plucking
  44. put
  45. rarely
  46. real
  47. rough
  48. ruthlessly
  49. seconds
  50. seek
  51. serrations
  52. specialized
  53. species
  54. spiny
  55. stabbing
  56. techniques
  57. territory
  58. test
  59. tips
  60. track
  61. typically