Earlier it was thought that humming birds can live up to two or three years. Now researchers have discovered their lifespan to be more than 10 years. The scientists made the discovery by placing tiny numbered bands on their legs few years back and tracked them.

The migrations found in humming birds have presented many amazing facts. Rufous hummingbird has been captured in Florida in winters and then 3,500 miles away in southeast Alaska. They are also caught in areas where temperature is less than zero degrees.

"We're learning a lot about hummingbirds through banding we never would have learned otherwise", said Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the bird banding laboratory for the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland.

Humming birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for capturing them, state permits are needed.

According to Peterjohn, about 225 hummingbird banders are there in the US. Out of this, 125 are considered master bird banders as they spent years to perfect the technique. About 100 banders have sub-permits and are trained by a master bird bander.

The number of hummingbird banders has increased even after so many obstacles. Bassett, a master bird bander caught 1,900 hummingbirds in Idaho. He said that hummingbirds consider humans to be their personal servants as they are supposed to feed them. He considers hummingbird flight amazing as they can go from 0 to 50 miles per hour in about 10 feet.

As per Jessica Pollock, a research biologist with the Intermountain Bird Observatory at Boise State University, the trapping equipments have also been improved along with advancements made in tiny metal bands, which banders prepare themselves. And a standardized protocol is needed to capture the hummingbirds.

But this information has created more questions. Peterjohn said that it's not clear that hummingbirds fly hundreds of miles continuously or they take breaks in between. Their longevity is also not known.