Hummingbird Banding on our Porch

It was an exciting afternoon! Veronica, one of two hummingbird banders licensed in Missouri, came by to capture and band some hummers. She banded 19 tiny birds in just under two hours! All but four of them were this year's juvenile males; the other four were this year's juvenile females.

She placed net "cages" over two of the feeders. Each "cage" has a big opening, and the bird flies in to get to the feeder. Their natural inclination is to fly up, so they go to the top of the "cage" and she reaches in and gently gets it. She then places it in a drawstring bag to move it from the feeder to her work table. Then she wraps the bird in a "footie" and weighs it. She sexes it by looking at a specific wing feather. Then she measures the wing and the bill. And she blows air through a straw to look for molting and body fat.

She then gets a teeny tiny little numbered leg band and she gently squeezes that onto the bird's teeny tiny little foot. She offers it some nectar and then lets it fly away.

Feels good to know that we are contributing to hummingbird research and data.

Hummingbird fact for today: Hummingbird banding is like holding magic. Banders are amazingly gentle and careful with the tiny birds, although as intercontinental migrants, hummers are tougher than they look.

Nest Building and Courtship are in Full Swing

Our little wire suet box that we have stuffed with raw cotton and cat hair is being attacked daily. There's definite signs that "something" is pulling out bits of both cotton and hair to add to the teeny tiny nests that are being built in the area. This material, along with plant parts and spider web to hold it all together, go into the nest, which is usually located in the fork of a downward sloping branch. The tiny nest is about the size of half a walnut. She will cover the outside with bits of gray-green lichen to camouflage it, and line the inside with soft plant down,

We're seeing some mating displays as well. The mating process is quite complex involving several activities in which the female plays an active role. Males attempt to attract females' attention with spectacular courtship flights in which a male flies upward 15m or more and then dives down at top speed, pulling up at the last moment to complete a U-shaped pattern; the pattern is usually repeated several times before the male takes a break. The sound of the male's wings are particularly loud in courtship flight, which may be accompanied by vocal chittering. Eventually, the female selects a male--perhaps one with a particularly energetic display or the one defending a feeding territory that appears especially rich--and mates with him.

After the male mates with the first female, he may mate again with several others. This promiscuous "harem system" works well for the species because there are fewer adult males than females in a typical local population. After mating takes place, the female assumes all parental duties. The male does not help at all in looking after the eggs or their offspring.

Since every bird is on an individual schedule, and a lot of energy is currently being expended, there is heavy feeding activity - especially during a cool rain. The video above was taken yesterday, just about dusk and during a light drizzle/mist. Once Mom lays her two white tiny pea-size eggs, she will visit the feeders less often, as she sits on the nest for 50-55 minutes of each hour. After the eggs hatch, generally 14-16 days, she will feed the chicks a regurgitated slurry of protein (from tiny insects she eats) along with nectar and pollen. Newly hatched hummingbirds are naked and blind. By the third day after hatch, the chicks have doubled their mass, which doubles again by day five and again by day eight--about the time when the young start producing their first noticeable pinfeathers. Chicks are in the nest for almost three weeks--making the total elapsed time from egg-laying to fledging about 5-6 weeks. When the nestlings finally leave the nest, they are completely grown and innately able to begin foraging on their own.

Several pairs of orioles, both Baltimore and orchard, are hitting the jelly feeders daily. They are extremely camera-shy, however, and take off when we try to get pix.

We're working on sending out wholesale orders. This week the Owl House in Saugatuck, MI, received their order, and next week Stewart's Village Gallery in Waxhaw, NC, will have their order. We're also be giving a presentation about hummingbirds at the Lake Bloomers Garden Club next week. Our next show will be at the Green Bay Botanical Garden in Wisconsin the first weekend in June.

Hummingbird fact for today: Occasionally, because of cold, wet weather that kills the eggs or nestlings, or when windy storms blow down a nest, the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird will start the nesting process over again. If she returned from the wintering grounds early enough and linked up quickly with a male, she probably has no problem pulling off a re-nesting attempt, but if she got a late start on her first nest she may not have time to try again--especially in the northern United States and southern Canada where the nesting season is especially short.

So Nice Hearing Hummers Again

The sights and sounds around here just keep improving!

Male ruby-throats showed up, then male Baltimore orioles, then female ruby-throats, and now a male orchard oriole. Our little flocks are beginning to move back in!

Re-orders are coming in from our retail outlets. So the ruby-throated migration is in full swing with them returning to their breeding areas.

Watch for mating dances - deep, fast swoops back and forth - as he shows off for the lady.

We're going to a new-to-us area next weekend. We'll be in Huntington, WV, at the Big Sandy Arena for the Dogwood Arts & Crafts Festival. We hope to make a stop at our favorite WV glass maker - Blenko in Milton - as well.

As the hummers return, remember to keep the nectar fresh for them. If the feeder isn't empty after 3-5 days, dump it out, clean it, and refill it with fresh nectar. If you want to use pre-packaged nectar, we recommend only EZ Nectar, made from ONLY sugar and water with no additives or preservatives. Enter coupon code ozarklake at checkout for savings!

Hummingbird fact for today: The Aztecs were one of the first known cultures to embrace the beauty and representation of the Hummingbird. They wore talismans that had Hummingbirds on them as a symbol of the vigor of their people.

First Ruby-Throat Has Arrived!

Our first ruby-throat of the season arrived on April 10, 3-6 days sooner than any have ever arrived. So far he seems to be alone, but more will surely show up.

We've been to two shows this spring, one in Fort Smith, AR, and one in Evansville, IN. So despite a slower show season, wholesale orders have kept us hopping, with some new locations ordering. Last week we sent orders to Inspired! Gift Shop in Port Angeles, WA, and to Awakenings in Pleasanton, CA. Now we're working on orders for the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, AR, and Frames of Mind in St. John, VI.

Here's a complete list of retail locations that carry Ozarklake items:

Coronado National Monument Gift Store, Hereford, AZ

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, Fayetteville, AR

Awakenings, Pleasanton, CA

An Artisan's Marketplace, Plainville, CT

The Secret Shed, Shererville, IN

Alley Gallery, Marion, IA

The Owl House, Saugatuck, MI

The Hermann Mercantile, Hermann, MO

Tar Heel Trading Co., Corolla & Duck, NC

A Bird's Eye View, Littleton, NC

Stewart's Village Gallery, Waxhaw, NC

Blue Heron Gallery, Sunset Beach, NC

When Pigz Fly, Raleigh, NC

Beech Branch Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN

Rio Grande Valley Arts & Heritage Museum, Harlingen, TX

SPI Birding and Nature Center, South Padre Island, TX

Inspired! Gift Shop, Port Angeles, WA

Dickinson & Wait Craft Gallery, Shepherdstown, WV

Frames of Mind, St. John, VI

Everyone who feed hummers knows that sometimes ants will find your birdfeeder, especially if you're feeding nectar or fruit. They just march right down whatever the feeder is hanging on and march right in to the sweet stuff. Using pesticides, oils, or anything that is sticky is bad for the birds. They can be poisoned with pesticides, all oils can get on their feathers (they're tiny and fast and curious) and affect their flying ability, and something sticky (like inside-out duct tape) can actually entrap the little hummingbirds. 

 So what's the answer??? Ants do not swim! In fact, since they breathe through their skin, they actually suffocate in water. Enter our new AntSentry. Hang the AntSentry from the hook that your feeder was on, hang your feeder from the bottom hook of the AntSentry, fill the copper bowl with water. Ants might march down from the top hook, but the water moat keeps them from marching on down to the feeder. Our AntSentry is handcrafted in the same style as our feeders, but will be a beautiful accessory for any feeder. The solid copper will last a lifetime, and certainly a lot longer than the plastic ant moats you can find in the big box stores. The copper bowl is 2" across, and 1.5" deep. Just watch for evaporation and replenish with water when needed. You can order your here. 

Hummingbird fact for today: As with most of our migratory birds, hummingbirds apparently evolved to their present forms during the last ice age. They were (and largely still are) tropical birds, but as the great ice sheets retreated from North America, they gradually expanded their ranges to exploit rich temperate food resources and nesting space, filling unoccupied niches in the U.S and southern Canada while evading intense competition in the tropics. Ruby-throated hummingbirds spend the summer months in the eastern half of the US and some provinces. Watch the migration map fill in with dates of "first" sightings.

Summertime Fun is at an End

It seems that most all of our tiny visitors have moved on southward. We might catch a brief glimpse of one at a feeder 2 or 3 times a day, but for the most part they are gone. We had terrific summer traffic, though. The hummingbird bander was here in July, in August, and a surprise visit in September. All together, she banded 26 birds on our porch. It is awesome to know that we have contributed something, no matter how small, to the scientific study of these amazing creatures.

A couple of weeks ago when she came over, she banded 13 birds in just about 2 hours! For the previous visits, we've been neighborly and invited our neighbors over to observe the process. This last time we didn't tell anyone and Terrie was the scribe, recording the information that Veronica got from the measuring and weighing.

We're off to the Northwest Arkansas Arts and Crafts Festival in Springdale in a couple of weeks. Then we'll have our first experience at the Nashville Christmas Village in November. We cut back on our show participation this year. With any luck, the wholesale accounts we've picked up will be steady customers.

Hummingbird fact for today: The instinct to migrate is so strong that nothing short of captivity can keep a healthy, normal migratory bird from going south. The few hummingbirds that try to winter in climates too cold for their survival most likely are physically unfit to migrate or have off-kilter internal compasses and would have died sooner had they not found feeders. By leaving a feeder up through the full migration period, you may give a disadvantaged bird a second chance at survival.

Not Getting Much Done

Who wants to work when the hummer activity is up? Besides, Bill is still "recovering" from last week's cataract surgery. So we sit and watch hummers getting fat in preparation for their migration. And the hummingbird bander is coming back this evening :-)

Hummingbird fact for today: Each species of hummingbird makes a different humming sound, determined by the number of wing beats per second.