We have a winner

We attended the very first Peculiar Arts Festival in Peculiar, MO, five years ago. We went back this year for their 5th annual event. This is a very well run show. We were honored with a Purchase Award from the arts festival committee.

We also very much enjoyed their music, including the Krazy Kats. The Kats have been together since 1957 and although they move a bit slower and have gray hair, their sound is still pretty darn good!

Activity at our hummingbird feeders has slowed down quite a bit. That is common this time of year as mom is sitting the eggs. Once hatched, mom will concentrate on a protein diet to feed the youngsters. We will have lots of activity at the oriole feeders. There are at least 3 male Baltimore's and 4 male orchard's that visit frequently. Plenty of females, too, but not sure which are Baltimore orioles and which are orchard orioles.

We will be at the Wild Birds Unlimited trade conference later this month in Indianapolis. This will be a first - both with WBU and a large trade show. With over 250 franchise store owners in North America, we are hoping to make in-roads with many of them.

Our next "big" gig will be High Country Arts Festival in Eagle Nest, NM, followed by the Hummingbird Festival in Sedona, AZ. September and October will be kind of crazy, with shows nearly every weekend. Keeping busy with the feeders keeps us out of trouble and the plus is that we get to see a lot of our great country.

Hummingbird fact for today: Hummingbirds reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar.

The Human Hummingbird Feeder

Anyone who knows Terrie knows how nuts she is about hummingbirds. We are fortunate this year because it seems that all the hummers that were here before their migration have returned. The cold snaps we keep having are contributing to their need to feed. The activity around our feeders is just crazy, especially at dusk as they pack in the calories for their nightly torpor state. Armed with three tubes of nectar, Terrie became a human hummingbird feeder this week. Yes, hummingbird lovers, they will come THAT close to you.

The orioles have returned as well. There are plenty of male orchard orioles as well as at least three male Baltimore orioles. So this summer we'll be buying a lot of oranges and grape jelly!

Birdfest Texoma was a lot of fun. It's very rewarding to spend time with people who appreciate our feathered friends. Next weekend we'll be at Springfield Old Capitol Art Fair in Springfield, IL. A reporter from the State Journal-Register called this week and our items will be featured in an article to be published on Thursday. Gotta love free publicity!

Hummingbird fact for today: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are so lightweight that you could mail 8 of them for the price of a first-class postage stamp.

BirdFest Texoma

Friends of Hagerman are hosting BirdFest Texoma May 3-5 near Sherman, TX. Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge offers  an 11,000 acre-plus home for wildlife - water, marsh, prairie and woods, with over 300 bird species sighted since the Refuge was established. Noted birder, painter, and author David Sibley is the keynote speaker. Jonathan Wood, master falconer and wildlife rehabilitator, has assembled a collection of feathered predators that is unrivalled in scope and size. Thirty-six birds will be presented in the Raptor Project show at BirdFest Texoma! Three full days of birding, wildlife and nature activities will make for a great weekend. We plan to be there!


If you find yourself in Hardy, Arkansas, stop and see Marc and Linda Herring at Ozark Classic Crafts Mall on Main Street. In addition to Ozarklake hummingbird feeders, you will find all kinds of wonderful handcrafted items.

Hummingbird fact for today: Feeders hung at the window attract as many hummers as feeders placed further from structures.

And now Orioles are returning!

Had a pair of Orchard Orioles at the hummingbird feeder yesterday. So now we have our grape jelly and orange half feeder out. This morning we saw a male Baltimore Oriole. Even though it is only in the 30's this morning, Spring is here!

Hummmingbird season at Lake of the Ozarks!

We now have two males. Females should start showing up in 10-14 days. Woo-hoo!

I'm a neglectful blogger....

Well, seems like just yesterday it was February *lol*

In March we traveled to Gulf Breeze, FL, and to Fairhope, AL. At Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts we were awarded a Purchase Award and saw Suzette Nesbitt-Walker, also a BOMH Juried Artist, of Rowdy Blonde Studio in Reed Spring, MO, receive a First Place award for her outstanding Jewelry. At the Eastern Shore Art Center Festival in Fairhope we spent some quality time with Janet Weilbrenner and Stacy Benesh, BOMH Juried Artists from West Plains, MO, who make Copper Turtles. So we're not the only crazy Missourians who traipse around the country to art festivals!

Cold Mil Fleet in Orange Beach, AL, has THE BEST dolphin cruise! They take out two boats and when dolphins are spotted, they run the boats full tilt side by side which causes the dolphins to jump and frolic and cavort in the big wake between the boats. What a thrill! The best $15 you will ever spend (that doesn't involve hummingbirds). Of course we had "to do" the aviation museums in Pensacola, FL, and Warner-Robbins, GA. We also found the Uncle Remus Museum and ate fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Towanda!

So with that excitement behind us, we're gearing up for the spring and summer art shows and birding festivals. The Stillwater (OK) Arts Festival is next weekend and that is always a good time (but always windy). The people of Stillwater really support this event. In May we're off to BirdFest Texoma and then the Springfield Old Capitol Art Fair. After Art in the Park in Columbia, MO, June (our favorite show), we'll attend the Wild Birds Unlimited annual conference. Wild Birds Unlimited is the original and largest franchise system of backyard bird feeding and nature specialty stores with more than 275 locations throughout the United States and Canada. Wild Birds Unlimited specializes in bringing people and nature together with bird feeding and nature products, expert advice and educational events and this will be the first conference we have attended since being approved as a vendor to WBU franchise stores.

But the REALLY BIG NEWS here is that we spotted the first Ruby-throated hummer of the season this morning at the feeder!!!!! We've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Yay!

Hummingbird fact for today: You can see the "first sightings" as the Ruby-throateds return to the US on this site http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html.

Another Success Story

We LOVE to hear from customers, especially when they and their hummers are enjoying our feeders. We got a really neat note from a customer yesterday. He bought this feeder in 2009 at the Omaha Summer Arts Festival. He was writing to request new tubes. But he also shared a story about this feeder.

He wrote, "We bought a feeder from you two at a show in Omaha a few years ago and I got some replacement tubes from you I think maybe year before last. We have it down here in Arizona now. The hummers love it, though they don't share well. A little story on the feeder, its popular with the birds and also with guests who remark on its' individuality. A few years ago during our first winter down here we attracted a little female Anna's Hummingbird whom we called Anna (aren't we creative) No other bird has been attached to this feeder like her so I still call it Anna's feeder. She sat on top of a bush maybe 4 feet away from it for the entire winter...I mean everyday, most of the day!! She was so stingy with it, others learned to feed when she was driving some interloper away. Sometimes if the tubes needed refilling she would come to us as we came out of the house and hover about six inches from our faces. Kinda frightening at first but we got used to it and it seemed she wanted fresh food because if I refilled the tubes she would drink while I'll was doing it. We spent the summer in Nebraska that year, returned in the fall, hung the feeder and she was back within a few hours!"

He included a picture of the feeder and amazingly enough, we remember this feeder and we remember meeting them in Omaha. It is so satisfying to know that he has been using this feeder since he purchased it in 2009 and it is still feeding hummingbirds in 2013 and he is still enjoying owning it. That's a darn good return on investment! Thanks, Jeff, for allowing us to share your story.

Hummingbird fact for today: The female hummer will build her nest before she looks for a suitable male mate for breeding.