>OK, a little more seriously, I can help a teensy bit with one question:
>
>> When a hummingbird goes into torpor for the night, does it try to build a
>> little nest or find an insulated crevice, to save as much heat as possible?
>
>They don't build little nests ("nestlets"?).
>

No they don't, however, the Andean Hillstar (Oreotrochilus estella) is known
to spend the night in rocky crevices which should offer some shelter from
the elements. The Andean HIllstar is a high Andean Hummingbird which lives
above the tree line. It is likely that other high Andean hummers also do the
same.

Alvaro Jaramillo
Half Moon Bay, CA

alvaro at quake.net
http://www.quake.net/~alvaro/index.html