A key component of individual fitness is the ability to manage energy stores in response to variable resource availability, but because directly measuring energy budgets is difficult, daily energy management is rarely measured. Hummingbirds' energy management is relatively simple to model compared to other endotherms because they have high mass‐specific metabolic rates and store little fat. We determined which aspects of the hummingbird daily energy budget (i.e. thermoregulation, daytime activity costs, night‐time costs) change at the individual level in response to environmental variation. We found that daily energy expenditure varied threefold in two populations of broad‐billed hummingbirds (Cynanthus latirostris). Our model indicated the energy budget was distributed in the following proportions: daytime activity, 59% (range 22%–84%); thermoregulation, 23% (11%–32%); basal metabolism, 7% (3%–16%); and night‐time energy, 17% (6%–37%). Activity costs were higher at the hotter, homogeneous site and during the early‐wet season at both sites. Increased daily energy expenditure was related to decreased nectar availability and not significantly related to temperature or bird mass. With climate change, the indirect energetic costs of shifting resources could have greater impacts on endotherm energy budgets than direct costs such as thermoregulation. Increased foraging and activity costs could decrease the energy available to birds for somatic repair and reproduction, potentially causing differential fitness across seasons and sites. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Torpor is an important energy saving strategy in some small birds, but it has rarely been studied in natural field conditions. We compared torpor use across 43 wild‐caught individuals of eight hummingbird species across sites with different natural temperature regimes. Most laboratory studies focus on the relationship between metabolic rate and temperature, but our aim was to evaluate what environmental factors most influence hummingbird nighttime energy management under natural conditions. We found that the probability of an individual entering torpor was weakly correlated with mass but unrelated to nighttime temperature and that hummingbirds at both warm, tropical and cooler, temperate sites used torpor. Energy savings in torpor were maximized as ambient temperatures approached a species’ minimum body temperature, consistent with laboratory studies; energy savings ranged between 65 and 92% of energy per hour in torpor compared to normothermy. However, regardless of the degree of energy savings in torpor, variation in total nighttime energy expenditure was most significantly influenced by torpor bout duration. Lab studies largely assess the effect of temperature on torpor use, but our findings indicate that other environmental conditions are more important in determining hummingbirds’ total nighttime energy expenditure under natural temperature cycles. Our results show that a small endotherm's nighttime energy management in its natural habitat is more affected by torpor bout duration, which is linked to photoperiod, than by temperature. This result suggests that in their natural environments hummingbirds are able to save energy in torpor across a range of nighttime temperatures, indicating that they may have sufficient physiological flexibility to tolerate climatic variation.

ABSTRACTTorpor is an important energy saving strategy in small endotherms, but it has been insufficiently studied in natural field conditions. Building on what we know from laboratory studies, we compared torpor use across hummingbird species and different natural temperature regimes to explore predominant hypotheses about torpor use and evaluate the possible effects of environmental variation on energy management.We found that the probability of an individual entering torpor was correlated with mass and unrelated to nighttime temperature, and that hummingbirds at both warm tropical and cooler temperate sites used torpor.Energy savings in torpor were maximized as ambient temperatures approached a species’ minimum body temperature consistent with laboratory studies; energy savings ranged between 65-92% of energy per hour in torpor compared to normothermy.However, variation in total nighttime energy expenditure was more significantly influenced by torpor bout duration than by the variation in energy savings in torpor.Our results show that a small endotherm’s nighttime energy management in its natural habitat is more affected by torpor bout duration, which is linked to photoperiod, than by temperature. This result suggests that in their natural environments, hummingbirds are able to save energy in torpor across a range nighttime temperature, indicating that they may have sufficient physiological flexibility to tolerate climatic variation.

Many endotherms use torpor, saving energy by a controlled reduction of their body temperature and metabolic rate. Some species (e.g., arctic ground squirrels, hummingbirds) enter deep torpor, dropping their body temperatures by 23-37°C, while others can only enter shallow torpor (e.g., pigeons, 3-10°C reductions). However, deep torpor in mammals can increase predation risk (unless animals are in burrows or caves), inhibit immune function, and result in sleep deprivation, so even for species that can enter deep torpor, facultative shallow torpor might help balance energy savings with these potential costs. Deep torpor occurs in three avian orders, but the trade-offs of deep torpor in birds are unknown. Although the literature hints that some bird species (mousebirds and perhaps hummingbirds) can use both shallow and deep torpor, little empirical evidence of such an avian heterothermy spectrum within species exists. We infrared imaged three hummingbird species that are known to use deep torpor, under natural temperature and light cycles, to test if they were also capable of shallow torpor. All three species used both deep and shallow torpor, often on the same night. Depending on the species, they used shallow torpor for 5-35% of the night. The presence of a heterothermic spectrum in these bird species indicates a capacity for fine-scale physiological and genetic regulation of avian torpid metabolism.