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.

Wonderful Vacation

We travel a lot but usually we are in the van and toting inventory, the tent, weights, etc. So we decided it was time for a trip with no selling involved. We drove to Ft. Lauderdale and boarded a cruise ship headed south. We stopped in Aruba, Curacao, Panama, and Costa Rico. The highlight of the trip was our transit of the Panama Canal, from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side. I highly recommend Tours by Locals if you want to see a new location through the eyes of someone who lives there and not just the touted tourist attractions.

Our new season will begin in March, with stops in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. All we have to do is wait out the coldest part of the year here in Missouri. And take care of all those niggling appointments with doctors, eye doctors, dentists, etc.

The Hummingbird Society will host another Hummingbird Festival in August which we will again attend, with a stop at the High Desert Arts Festival in Eagle Nest, NM, along the way. We're still waiting to hear where we will be for the rest of the show season.

Hummingbird fact for today: Sightings of vagrant Rufous hummingbirds are increasingly being reported throughout the southeastern US in winter with hummingbird banders capturing dozens of birds each winter.

What's Up With the Wandering Hummers?

According to the Morning Sun, a newspaper in Mt. Pleasant, MI, a rufous hummingbird was seen this week in that part of Michigan. That's pretty amazing since rufous hummers usually hang out between Washington and Alaska. The sighting was documented by a hummingbird researcher.

For the second year in a row, an Allen's hummer was at a feeder near Knoxville, TN, in October. This was verifiable because last year the little bird was banded while in Tennessee. Allen's hummers have a very small, narrow, breeding range along the cloud-shrouded Pacific coast from southern Oregon to southern California. They have both a migratory race that winters in a small area in central Mexico and a non-migratory race that winters in California. So why is this bird in Tennessee?

In the last two months more than 60 western stray hummers have been found in Pennsylvania according to the Lehigh Valley website. Most sightings have been rufous hummingbirds that breed from the Pacific Northwest up into Alaska but there have also been three surprise species, all three of which have been found in the southeastern part of the state. A Calliope was in a backyard near Philadelphia, then on Nov. 10 a black-chinned hummingbird spent one day in a yard north of Levittown, and this week there is an Allen's in a yard near Pipersville in Bucks County.

Is it that there is a shuffling or ranges within the hummingbird world? All of these areas are in the normal ruby-throated hummingbird summer habitat. Or are we just becoming more aware of hummers? Imagine the thrill of seeing a "foreign" species in your yard outside the regular "season". What fun!

Hummingbird fact for today: Never say ALWAYS or NEVER when talking about hummingbirds!

Home Again Home Again

We are finally home again! Now we have to unpack and put away EVERYTHING - from the inventory we made while at Silver Dollar City to all the tools and supplies we had to take to make inventory to all the clothes and housewares we had to take to live away from home for 7 weeks.

We are SO greatful to Laura Koerbel for taking good care of Ozzy and Izzie, bringing in the mail, and being a neighbor and friend who goes above and beyond the call!

Two holiday shopping shows yet to do. Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield is Nov. 10-11. Then State Fair Community College in Sedalia on Dec. 1. But already we're submitting applications and hoping to get into the shows we'd like to do.

We WILL be back at the Hummingbird Festival in Sedona, AZ, the first weekend in August!!!

Silver Dollar City - Just One More Week

We've been at this for six weeks now, and there's one week left. Must confess, we're ready for it to be over. Yes, we meet a lot of awfully nice people who are genuinely interested in learning all they can about hummingbirds, who enjoy their hummers throughout the summer, and who appreciate the work we put into making our art. BUT there are also some really inconsiderate, mis-informed, know-it-all's out there. For instance, the question of the day today was, "Do you know where you get your stoppers?" Well, of course we do. We are the ones who get them. And no, we're not going to tell you where we get them because you just bought a house with "at least 100 bottles in the basement" that you think you can turn into feeders if only we will provide you with the information so that you can. A photographer friend loves this question, "Were you there when you took these pictures?" And another artist friend loses it with this question, "Can I ask you a dumb question?" Sure. Go ahead. We're here to please.

Went home about a month ago and our hummer population was down from over three dozen to just two individuals. Then when we went home last, no sign of hummer activity at all. They are off to warmer surroundings for the winter and lordy how we miss them!

Spending time with other artists, we have been able to add quite a few pieces to our hummingbird art collection. One artist, who did his first ever hummer painting for us, joked that in a few years the BOMH artists at Silver Dollar City would be the BOMH Hummingbird Artists. So much talent in Missouri and thank goodness we have the opportunity to own some of their fantastic pieces! And thank goodness they are willing to accommodate our hummingbird "jones".

Hummingbird fact for today: Hummers do NOT fly south on the backs of geese. Geese don't go to the same locales and fly way too high for hummers to withstand the altitude. Hummers fly individually, just above tree-top level so they can feed along the way.

Best of Missouri Hands at Silver Dollar City

The National Harvest Festival runs September 13 through October 27 at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO (park is closed Mon. and Tues.). Inside the Frisco Barn you will find work by Best of Missouri Hands artists and artisans. Some pieces will be on display as part of the Best of Missouri Art Faire. You will also find working artists, creating their pieces right before your very eyes. Demonstrating craftsmen change throughout the Festival. Check this schedule for specific BOMH artists and the dates you can find them "in residence".

We still have hummers and Baltimore orioles, although the herd seems to be thinning a bit. It appears there are fewer males, and the remaining birds are fattening up for the long journey home. The orioles should be heading south soon, with the hummers following shortly thereafter. It's always a bit sad to look out the window and not see our busy little summer visitors.

Wild Birds Unlimited in Conroe, TX, now has Ozarklake feeders in their inventory. We're hoping to hear from a lot of the WBU stores now that we have been approved as a supplier by the national WBU organization.

Hummingbird fact for today:  Hummingbirds will NOT delay migration if a feeder is present; they are driven by forces more powerful than hunger.