There are more than 300 species of hummingbirds, all of which are found only in the Western Hemisphere, from southeastern Alaska to southern Chile. ©Rolf Riethof, flickr

On these dark, wintry nights, you may find yourself preferring the proverbial “not a creature was stirring,” but when you hear the cute “snoring” of this creature, you just might change your mind.

The hummingbird in the video below is a female amethyst-throated sunangel, native to the Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. While the sound this tiny bird makes may not technically be snoring in the human way, it sure makes for a charming comparison.

As part of a research study aimed at understanding the differences between the metabolism of hummingbirds and that of larger species, this little sunangel was placed inside a specialized container connected to a machine that measures how much oxygen it breathed while it slept.

Hummingbirds have huge metabolic needs. To keep their tiny bodies warm, they eat the human equivalent of a refrigerator full of food every day—mostly fatty bugs and high-energy nectar. ©Cassiano Zaparoli

Hummingbirds have huge metabolic needs. To keep their tiny bodies warm, they eat the human equivalent of a refrigerator full of food every day—mostly fatty bugs and high-energy nectar. Because of their small size, hummingbirds also lose a lot of body heat to the air. So to preserve energy on cool nights, they enter a daily, miniature hibernation called torpor. Then, just before morning, their natural circadian rhythms kick in and they start to “thaw out.”

Scientists say that what you see in the video is probably a bird coming out of torpor, starting to breathe in more oxygen to raise its body temperature. The result is the “snoring” noise.

Happily, this little one was released back into the wild the next morning.

Here’s wishing you peaceful, restful holidays—and a very happy New Year,

Candy