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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Information ID: #63114 Easy Hummingbird migration and nectar fuel

Read the following passage.

A. The yearly journey of the ruby-throated hummingbird begins in winter. Most of these birds spend the winter between southern Mexico and northern Panama, and they start moving north as early as January. By the end of February many have reached the northern coast of the Yucatan. There they feed heavily, and a bird can almost double its weight, from about 3.25 grams to over 6 grams. Some then fly about 800 kilometres across the Gulf of Mexico, while others travel around it along the Texas coast. A bird that makes the crossing may weigh only 2.5 grams when it lands.

B. The birds arrive at their breeding grounds in Canada during the last two weeks of May. Each male sets up a territory with several sources of food and chases intruders away. Hummingbirds eat small insects and drink nectar, and they prefer tube-shaped flowers such as bee balm and columbines. As a bird moves from flower to flower, it carries pollen to other plants of the same species. After mating, the male takes no part in raising the young. The female builds the nest on her own and lays two white eggs, which hatch after 11 to 14 days.

C. The trip south begins in the second half of August and continues into the first week of September. Males leave first, followed by females and juveniles, and young birds make their first migration alone, without a parent. Before they go, hummingbirds feed intensely, a feeding frenzy that scientists call hyperphagia. The fat they build up yields more than twice as much energy per gram as carbohydrates or protein, and scientists have calculated that it can fuel nonstop flight of nearly 600 miles. Bird banding has shown that hummingbirds return to the very same place the following spring.

D. Weather is a serious danger. Storms and untimely frost can kill hummingbirds, and the autumn flight comes during peak hurricane season, when strong headwinds over the Gulf can exhaust weaker birds. On cold nights a hummingbird may enter a sleep-like state called torpor, in which its heart rate falls from about 500 beats a minute to fewer than 50. Feeders bring risks of their own, because birds may attack their reflections in nearby windows and injure themselves, so feeders should hang 5 to 10 metres from glass. In 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Birds Canada estimated that about 6.1 million live in Canada, but numbers have been falling since a peak around 2005.

E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.

- 1.
The father does not help to care for the chicks.

- 2.
Birds visiting a feeder close to a house can get hurt by flying at the glass.

- 3.
Most birds that cross the Gulf make the flight during the night.

- 4.
Their numbers in Canada have been going down for about twenty years.

- 5.
Before the long crossing, a bird can grow to nearly twice its usual weight.

- 6.
Young birds on their first trip south fly more slowly than the adults.

- 7.
When nights are cold, a bird's heartbeat can drop to a small fraction of its normal rate.

- 8.
Weight for weight, the birds' stored fuel supplies over double the energy of protein.

- 9.
The birds like flowers whose petals form a narrow pipe.

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