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.