This
will save the world
a hummingbird chasing flowers
in the wind
---Excerpted from Tiny Poems For Tiny
Birds by Larry Gates, 1998
Photo By Michael Rock
Hi Everyone,
It has been a very
long time since our last communication with you and we want to apologize. Life has been extremely busy for us with a
lot of travel, including an international trip.
We have also been having kind of a quiet hummingbird season this year
and we truly hope that the numbers begin to increase as we get closer to
September (there’s been some hinting that severe storms in northern Wisconsin
during the late spring/early summer destroyed many hummingbird nests and some
birds may have tried to nest again, therefore delaying their migration
south.) The most dramatic change though
is that our number of adult males has severely declined. I am writing this on August 19 (we finally
did see one on August 20!!)---we have not seen an adult male since June
27! Typically, we see many migrate back
south through our yard after July 4th, but sadly not this year.
Without further ado,
the dates for the Garden Tour are WEDNESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 11, 3-7 P.M. (door prize drawing at 5 p.m.) and SUNDAY,
SEPTEMBER 15, 1-5:30 P.M. (door prize drawing at 3 p.m.) at our home, 5118
Buffalo Trail, Madison, WI 53705. We are located on Madison’s west side, west
of the Hilldale Mall and right down the street from Oscar Rennebohm Park
(between Eau Claire Ave. and North Whitney Way.) Parking is available on Buffalo Trail or on
the surrounding streets. If you need help with directions, please let us
know.
It is NOT necessary to
RSVP and this is a public event, so anyone is welcome---please tell your
friends and family about the tours and invite them to come. If you have any questions at all, please
e-mail me at kathijr@yahoo.com. The
event will take place rain or shine (hopefully, the sun will be shining, and
the temperatures will be pleasant!)
Please note that only our front yard is wheel chair accessible. Additionally, if you have a bee allergy, be
warned that many bees will be present in our garden (especially if the day is
hot and sunny). If you are sensitive to
mosquitoes, please come prepared with your preferred repellent. We welcome and encourage children to attend,
but they must always be closely supervised by an adult.
Special features of
the event will include:
-Hummingbirds!! (we hope our timing is right and the weather
cooperates!)
-A huge garden filled
with hummingbird flowers, native and perennial and tropical and some other unusual
plants of interest
-20+ Hummingbird
Feeders
-Butterflies and interesting
moths
-Hummingbird
Banding---Mickey O’Connor and her “crewe”
-An informative and
fun class about hummingbirds presented by Larry and Emily Scheunemann who have a fabulous rural hummingbird and
butterfly garden near Whitewater. The
class will be offered at 4 p.m. on both September 11 and 15.
-A door prize drawing
and short program (door prizes courtesy of Wildbirds Unlimited of Madison,
Michael and Kathi Rock, and John and Helena Nolan)---5 p.m. on September 11 and
3 p.m. on September 15---you must be present to win a door prize!
-Snacks and beverages
(if you wish, please bring a small snack or beverage to share---no pork or
shellfish please----or a small bag of potting soil---this is completely
optional!) While we have so much appreciated that many people attending our
gardening tours have brought bags of sugar in past years, we currently have a
cabinet full of sugar and no room to store any more. PLEASE DO NOT BRING SUGAR!!
-Printed information
about how to start attracting hummingbirds in your very own garden.
-Meet others who are
also interested in hummingbirds and gardening.
We hope to see many of
you again and look forward to a wonderful few days with you in our hummingbird
and butterfly garden!!
We wish you enjoyment
of your hummingbirds and garden at this exciting time of the year---we look
forward to hearing all about it!
Best Wishes,
Michael and Kathi Rock
The
following information bears repeating during this busy time of the year!!
HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS 101---ALL THE
"INS AND OUTS" OF HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS
The diet of hummingbirds consists of small insects and nectar. You faithful readers of the Nectar
News are well aware of the different kinds of flowers that provide sweet nectar for the hummingbirds. But when the hummers return from their winter homes in April and May, there are no blooming flowers in Wisconsin that are attractive to hummingbirds. We may like to look at and enjoy daffodils and crocus and tulips, but those are not hummingbird flowers. So, to maximize the number of hummingbirds in your yard throughout the season, one must have hummingbird feeders. Here is a quick primer on the feeders that have worked well in our yard and the care of the feeders.
Feeder styles: There are two basic feeder styles: bottle feeders in which the nectar is above the feeder ports or saucer style feeders.
In the bottle feeder category: a workhouse feeder that has been in existence for many years is the Perky Pet Pinch Waste Feeder
(http://www.birdfeeders.com/store/hummingbird-feeders/bhbpwf), also known as the Perky Pet 4 Fountains feeder. This feeder is widely available at retailers such as hardware stores, home improvement stores and birding stores. If you have this feeder in your yard, you are guaranteed to see hummingbirds use it. One drawback of this feeder isthat if it blows in the wind, the nectar will slosh out of the feeder ports.
A feeder that we have used extensively with much success is the First Nature Hummingbird Feeder
https://www.amazon.com/First-Nature-Hummingbird-Feeder-16-Ounce/dp/B06ZY2S16M/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1530515386&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=first+nature+hummingbird+feeders&psc=1 . These feeders have 10 feeding ports with holes that are in a horizontal position, so when the wind blows, nectar does not slosh out of these feeders. We have found that the hummingbirds use this feeder to a high degree. One disadvantage of this feeder is that the feeding port holes are large oval shapes..... large enough for yellow jackets to fly into the nectar. First Nature has recently redesigned this feeder . It remains to be seen if this new feeder is used as much as the original First Nature design. You can find this feeder at stores such as Walmart and Fleet Farm.
Another bottle style feeder is the Dr. JB's Clean Feeder (http://www.drjbs.com/). This feeder is made of very durable plastic and a hardened glass bottle. The feeder ports on this feeder are oriented such that the nectar does not slosh out in a strong wind. This feeder is widely available at retailers such as Wild Birds Unlimited and Mounds Pet Food Warehouse.
The diet of hummingbirds consists of small insects and nectar. You faithful readers of the Nectar
News are well aware of the different kinds of flowers that provide sweet nectar for the hummingbirds. But when the hummers return from their winter homes in April and May, there are no blooming flowers in Wisconsin that are attractive to hummingbirds. We may like to look at and enjoy daffodils and crocus and tulips, but those are not hummingbird flowers. So, to maximize the number of hummingbirds in your yard throughout the season, one must have hummingbird feeders. Here is a quick primer on the feeders that have worked well in our yard and the care of the feeders.
Feeder styles: There are two basic feeder styles: bottle feeders in which the nectar is above the feeder ports or saucer style feeders.
In the bottle feeder category: a workhouse feeder that has been in existence for many years is the Perky Pet Pinch Waste Feeder
(http://www.birdfeeders.com/store/hummingbird-feeders/bhbpwf), also known as the Perky Pet 4 Fountains feeder. This feeder is widely available at retailers such as hardware stores, home improvement stores and birding stores. If you have this feeder in your yard, you are guaranteed to see hummingbirds use it. One drawback of this feeder isthat if it blows in the wind, the nectar will slosh out of the feeder ports.
A feeder that we have used extensively with much success is the First Nature Hummingbird Feeder
https://www.amazon.com/First-Nature-Hummingbird-Feeder-16-Ounce/dp/B06ZY2S16M/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1530515386&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=first+nature+hummingbird+feeders&psc=1 . These feeders have 10 feeding ports with holes that are in a horizontal position, so when the wind blows, nectar does not slosh out of these feeders. We have found that the hummingbirds use this feeder to a high degree. One disadvantage of this feeder is that the feeding port holes are large oval shapes..... large enough for yellow jackets to fly into the nectar. First Nature has recently redesigned this feeder . It remains to be seen if this new feeder is used as much as the original First Nature design. You can find this feeder at stores such as Walmart and Fleet Farm.
Another bottle style feeder is the Dr. JB's Clean Feeder (http://www.drjbs.com/). This feeder is made of very durable plastic and a hardened glass bottle. The feeder ports on this feeder are oriented such that the nectar does not slosh out in a strong wind. This feeder is widely available at retailers such as Wild Birds Unlimited and Mounds Pet Food Warehouse.
Another
feeder to consider is the More Birds feeder https://www.walmart.com/ip/More-Birds-Ruby-Hummingbird-Feeder/24381547.
This style comes highly recommended by a master bander we know.
In the saucer style category, a company that makes many of these feeders is Aspects (http://www.aspectsinc.com/2_HumFdrs.html). These feeders will not leak nectar in a strong wind. Although we have seen some use ofthese feeders in our yard, the saucer style feeders are not used as much as the Perky Pet 4 Fountains or the First Nature Hummingbird Feeders. These feeders are available at hardware stores and Wild Birds Unlimited.
There are dozens of styles of hummingbird feeders. We only mention the feeders above as these have been used in our yard and we can attest that they are good feeders. You will likely have success with almost any kind of feeder. However, we do not have any experience with the fancy
glass blown feeders that have a single spigot feeding port. In our discussions with other hummingbird enthusiasts, we have heard that hummers do not use these feeders very much and that they can be very difficult to clean. The best hummingbird feeder one that attracts hummingbirds AND is easy to clean.
Nectar
Now that you have your feeders, it is time to add nectar. Many of the pictures of feeders shown in the web sites listed above contain nectar with red dye. The dye is not necessary, as there is enough red on the feeder to attract the hummingbirds (and red dye may be harmful to the birds). So, you can either buy a commercial nectar mix, or make your own nectar. We do the latter by mixing a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part WHITE TABLE sugar (DO NOT use other kinds of sugars or sweetening agents---these are unsafe for hummingbirds!). The water can be boiled, or hot water out of the tap. (One could also use room temperature or cold water, but
the sugar will take longer to dissolve compared to hot water.) Stir in the sugar until it is totally dissolved, and then place in your feeder. We do not fill our feeders to the top because we do not have enough hummingbirds to drain our feeders. We only place enough nectar in the feeders to
last until the next nectar change, as often as every 2-3 days during hot, humid weather or at least every 4-5 days. Changing the nectar is necessary, as otherwise, the nectar will become cloudy, sour, and moldy and could sicken and kill a hummingbird!!.
The feeders also need to be cleaned. One can purchase different mops and brushes to clean the feeders. Alternatively, a 10 to 1 mixture of water and bleach can be used to soak the feeders for approximately 10 minutes. This is very effective at eliminating any mold and we recommend doing a bleach soak at least monthly. Fill your kitchen sink with hot water and a splash of bleach and soak the feeders and then rinse well. The fresh sugar water will neutralize any remaining mild bleach water that you cannot rinse out.
Lastly, it is time to hang your feeders. We place our feeders at approximately eye level. Place the feeders where you can see them and enjoy watching nature's flying jewels in your yard. In our opinion, the more feeders that you have, the more hummingbirds will be attracted to your yard. This may not be exceedingly important if one lives in the country near ideal nesting habitat. For those of us living in the city, we think that offering a large number of feeders helps us to see hummingbirds during most days of the late spring, summer and early fall (as late as November 17 in 2010---without feeders we would have not seen these late hummingbirds as all of our flowers had died or ceased blooming due to cold weather and frost). At the height of the fall migration, we maintain over 20 feeders in our yard.
In the saucer style category, a company that makes many of these feeders is Aspects (http://www.aspectsinc.com/2_HumFdrs.html). These feeders will not leak nectar in a strong wind. Although we have seen some use ofthese feeders in our yard, the saucer style feeders are not used as much as the Perky Pet 4 Fountains or the First Nature Hummingbird Feeders. These feeders are available at hardware stores and Wild Birds Unlimited.
There are dozens of styles of hummingbird feeders. We only mention the feeders above as these have been used in our yard and we can attest that they are good feeders. You will likely have success with almost any kind of feeder. However, we do not have any experience with the fancy
glass blown feeders that have a single spigot feeding port. In our discussions with other hummingbird enthusiasts, we have heard that hummers do not use these feeders very much and that they can be very difficult to clean. The best hummingbird feeder one that attracts hummingbirds AND is easy to clean.
Nectar
Now that you have your feeders, it is time to add nectar. Many of the pictures of feeders shown in the web sites listed above contain nectar with red dye. The dye is not necessary, as there is enough red on the feeder to attract the hummingbirds (and red dye may be harmful to the birds). So, you can either buy a commercial nectar mix, or make your own nectar. We do the latter by mixing a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part WHITE TABLE sugar (DO NOT use other kinds of sugars or sweetening agents---these are unsafe for hummingbirds!). The water can be boiled, or hot water out of the tap. (One could also use room temperature or cold water, but
the sugar will take longer to dissolve compared to hot water.) Stir in the sugar until it is totally dissolved, and then place in your feeder. We do not fill our feeders to the top because we do not have enough hummingbirds to drain our feeders. We only place enough nectar in the feeders to
last until the next nectar change, as often as every 2-3 days during hot, humid weather or at least every 4-5 days. Changing the nectar is necessary, as otherwise, the nectar will become cloudy, sour, and moldy and could sicken and kill a hummingbird!!.
The feeders also need to be cleaned. One can purchase different mops and brushes to clean the feeders. Alternatively, a 10 to 1 mixture of water and bleach can be used to soak the feeders for approximately 10 minutes. This is very effective at eliminating any mold and we recommend doing a bleach soak at least monthly. Fill your kitchen sink with hot water and a splash of bleach and soak the feeders and then rinse well. The fresh sugar water will neutralize any remaining mild bleach water that you cannot rinse out.
Lastly, it is time to hang your feeders. We place our feeders at approximately eye level. Place the feeders where you can see them and enjoy watching nature's flying jewels in your yard. In our opinion, the more feeders that you have, the more hummingbirds will be attracted to your yard. This may not be exceedingly important if one lives in the country near ideal nesting habitat. For those of us living in the city, we think that offering a large number of feeders helps us to see hummingbirds during most days of the late spring, summer and early fall (as late as November 17 in 2010---without feeders we would have not seen these late hummingbirds as all of our flowers had died or ceased blooming due to cold weather and frost). At the height of the fall migration, we maintain over 20 feeders in our yard.
HUMMINGBIRD
GARDEN NEWS
Planting the right flowers that meet a hummingbird’s high
need for nectar is key to a successful hummingbird garden that will delight you
and bring in hummingbirds from May through October. To complement this action, please remember to
keep your garden pesticide-free so you are not endangering the birds and end up
killing the small soft-bodied insects they need to survive. Just like any other kind of garden, a
hummingbird garden has its good and bad seasons and ups and downs. Weather in Wisconsin is always difficult to
predict, and we often get off to a very slow start with cold springs and soil
that never seems to warm up and that pattern definitely happened this year and
we had so much rain early in the season as well. We felt like our winter was a bit warmer than
usual as we had many tender salvias reseed and even one or two come back. All of our perennials came back very strong,
including all of our Butterfly Bushes!!
The height of our Bee Balm and Cardinal Flower was almost unbelievable
this season. Interestingly, we’ve found
that our hummingbirds used our perennial plants so much more this season than
in the past, especially Trumpet Honeysuckle, Bee Balm, Royal Catchfly, and
Cardinal Flower but even off beat natives like early and late figwort and
Verbena hastata were used.
We also continue to face the challenge of increasing
shade from trees in our yard, which is like a death knell for a hummingbird
gardener (add the never ending cloudy days we always seem to have to that and
the news seems to get worse!). Most of
the best hummingbird plants need full sun to thrive and bloom well (especially
in the cool Upper Midwest). Our issue is
that city trees (which the City of Madison refuses to trim, despite our pleas)
are growing very large and trees in neighbors’ yards on both sides are also
casting a lot of shade as well---sadly, you can only cut branches that are on
your property and no contractor will touch trees owned by the City (we finally did
cut some branches ourselves, but we don’t have the equipment or expertise to
really attack this dangerous task). If
you are lucky enough to have full sun in your garden, please do everything you
can to protect it if you want to keep gardening for hummingbirds and
butterflies!!
When you have the best plants for hummingbirds
blooming in late August and early September, the feeders are almost unnecessary
(but don’t take them down and keep cleaning them, they ensure that your
hummingbirds will always have something to eat no matter what---days with heavy
rain, high heat days, and cool fall days create challenges for hummingbirds in a
garden that offers only flowers!) Here
is a listing of the best and no fail plants for hummingbirds in Wisconsin by
season:
· Spring: Hummingbird feeders, Lonicera sempervirens
(Trumpet Honeysuckle), Gartenmeister Fuchsia
· Early Summer: Siberian Nepeta (Catmint), Gartenmeister
Fuchsia, Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire’ or ‘David Verity’,
Salvia guaranitica, Salvia ‘Amistad’, Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’, Salvia microphylla
(many varieties available including ‘Hot Lips’, ‘Maraschino’, ‘Cherry Chief’,
‘San Carlos Festival’), Agastache (may have to grow in pots if your soil is
heavy and rich)
· Summer:
Monarda ‘Jacob Kline’, Siberian Catmint (Nepeta), Canna indica and Robert Kemp,
Salvia coccinea, Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire’ or ‘David Verity’, Salvia ‘Amistad’, Salvia
guaranitica (many varieties available including ‘Black and Blue’, ‘Black and
Bloom’, ‘Purple and Bloom’), Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’, Salvia microphylla (many
varieties available including ‘Hot Lips’, ‘Maraschino’, ‘Cherry Chief’, ‘San
Carlos Festival’), Agastache (may have to grow in pots if your soil is heavy
and rich), Silene regia (Royal Catchfly), Buddleia
(davidii and ‘Orange Sceptre’), Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower)---requires
moist soil, Nicotiana
mutabilis (easy to grow from seed available on the internet or plants from
www.selecteeds.com)
· Late Summer/Early Fall: Canna indica and Robert Kemp, Salvia
coccinea, Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire’ or ‘David Verity’, Salvia guaranitica, Salvia
‘Amistad’, Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’, Salvia microphylla (many varieties available
including ‘Hot Lips’, ‘Maraschino’, ‘Cherry Chief’, ‘San Carlos Festival’),
Agastache (may have to grow in pots if your soil is heavy and rich), Buddleia
(davidii and ‘Orange Sceptre’), Nicotiana mutabilis (easy to grow from seed
available on the internet or plants from www.selecteeds.com)
There
are so many other exciting plants to choose from---this is only a starting
point. To learn more
about growing tropical salvias, please visit www.fbts.com (Flowers By The Sea,
located in Elk, California) ---you
will be amazed at how many salvias are now available to the home gardener and
their website contains so much helpful information and tips about gardening
with salvias!! Almost Eden Plants and
Select Seeds also offer quality mail order plants and interesting
selections. We also provide a lot of
information about growing salvias and other hummingbird plants on our website
hummingbirdgardening.net. You can grow
just about anything in a container with high quality soil in a sunny spot
(placing that pot on hot cement is even better!), so experiment and if you have
a place to keep your plant warm and somewhat dry over the winter, you might
have a larger and more vigorous plant for the next season (we did that with
several varieties of Salvias guaranitica, darcyi and Urica this season)!! The key with gardening is to build a great
garden slowly and try not to plant more than you can take of well---while most
hummingbird plants are low care, they still need occasional watering (potted
plants might need to be watered daily), fertilizing and repotting, and some
plants such as Butterfly Bush and Cannas require regular deadheading to stay in
bloom. If you are unfortunate enough to
have Japanese Beetles, you will have to hand pick them from your plants. Of course, there’s always the dreaded fall
and spring garden clean up!! It’s all
part of being a hummingbird gardener. The
special magic and joy of gardening for hummingbirds is that you are tending a
garden to bring these beautiful and special birds into your garden and help
them along their way!
EVALUATION OF TENDER SALVIAS---CHICAGO
BOTANIC GARDEN
Last summer we visited the Chicago Botanic Garden and by
accident stumbled upon a huge salvia garden and lots of excited
hummingbirds! We were not sure what it
was all about exactly. We were so happy
to see many of our favorite tropical salvias growing anywhere in the Upper
Midwest and marveled at this exciting discovery (no other visitors were there,
we had this garden completely to ourselves!).
We recently learned that the Chicago Botanic Garden was involved in performing an evaluation of tender salvias and
identifying the most successful varieties in the Upper Midwest! To look at this extensive study, please click
on the following link:
If you don’t have time to read the entire and very
fascinating study, you can find a summary on page 11. Note that Salvia ‘Amistad’ was the no. 1
top-rated salvia with many other salvia coccineas and greggii’s also included
in the top 10. The researchers concluded
that tender salvias are excellent annual plants to include in an Upper Midwest
garden and that they bloom freely and were resistant to disease throughout the
growing season (which is why they are so attractive to hummingbirds and
beautiful, interesting and easy in the landscape.)
We feel so privileged that we had an opportunity to
see this garden and the study in action and it was absolutely thrilling to see
hummingbirds enjoying the flowers! If
you don’t have a Salvia ‘Amistad’ growing in your garden, plan to get one for
next season---it is definitely our most successful salvia, easy to grow, and
always in vigorous bloom.
WHEN
TO TAKE HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS DOWN
After a long and glorious season of hummingbirds and
gardening, it’s very difficult and sad to think about the birds leaving and
having to dismantle the garden and the hummingbird feeders. However, Wisconsin’s very chilly and snowy winter
months make this a sad and necessary evil.
It is a total myth that leaving your feeders up after
October 15 will force hummingbirds to remain in your garden when it might not
be safe for them to do so. If anything,
your late season feeders (providing they are well maintained and clean) will help
late migrating hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds (and other migratory birds) migrate based on the length of
day (the shorter days of fall stimulate a hormonal process that tells them it’s
time to move south) and not on the presence of feeders and flowers. While it’s true that less food (nectar and
insects) could play a part in their decision to depart, the shorter days and
declining sunlight are more of a motivator for these tropical birds. While they can still find insects inside of
evergreen trees and underneath tree bark, it’s just easier and safer to fly to
a warmer place that has more food and a sunnier climate to offer. While some hummingbird species are equipped
to deal with cold weather (the Rufous hummingbird, which breeds in Alaska, is
extremely cold hardy), Ruby-throated hummingbirds are sadly not and cannot
survive our winters.
In 2010, we had a warm, late fall. We thought all our hummingbirds had left in
early October like they usually do.
About a week later, we happened to look out in the garden and saw two
hummingbirds at flowers! One of those
hummingbirds (an immature male Ruby-throated hummingbird) ended up staying with
us until November 17! While he fed from
some tropical salvias that were still viable, the feeders we maintained were his
lifeline. We hope that he was able to
make it to the Gulf Coast states or even Mexico to spend the winter. So, you just never know when a hummingbird
feeder might save a bird’s life!
Hummingbirds are not called “winged warriors” for nothing!!
Another great reason to leave feeders up and flowers
intact as much as possible is that you may be lucky enough to attract a vagrant
hummingbird from the western US (most commonly a Rufous or an Anna’s.) Every fall a few lucky Wisconsin hummingbird enthusiasts
will have the privilege of hosting one of these special birds in their garden
(an adult male Rufous Hummingbird has already been banded this summer of 2019
in Tomahawk Wisconsin with hopefully more to come!). While we’ve been waiting 20 years (Rufous
hummingbirds have been banded in two locations near our home---one location as
close as a mile!), you never know until you try. We have visited Wisconsin properties in
December with snow on the ground with a Rufous hummingbird still present and
feeding regularly from a feeder.
We usually take down all our feeders by early
December, but some people in the Upper Midwest maintain one hummingbird feeder
year-round. This is a decision that you
must make for yourself---you should only maintain a feeder if you know you will
have the time and motivation to keep it clean and filled and safe for hummingbirds
to use.
Please contact us if you have any questions about when
to take your hummingbird feeders down or if you see a very late hummingbird in
your garden.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
-Michael & Kathi Rock Hummingbird Garden
Tours: September 11, 3-7 p.m., September
15, 1-5:30 p.m., 5118 Buffalo Trail, Madison, WI 53705, kathijr@yahoo.com
-This link contains an extensive listing of other
Hummingbird Festivals in 2019 throughout the United States: https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-festivals-events.htm
INTERESTING
HUMMINGBIRD LINKS:
-
An Amazing Hummingbird Garden in Brazil
(there is red nectar in some of the feeders---never use red food coloring in
your hummingbird nectar----but it is still a very worthwhile film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQZ_BYjfIy8
-
Fascinating Look at What Happens When You
Put Hummingbirds In A Wind Tunnel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyqY64ovjfY
-
The Hummingbird Whisperer---an amazing look at
one California woman’s creation of a hummingbird paradise outside of her office
window---there is also a link to a newspaper article about her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP_3mAJpZVE
-
Rare Albino Hummingbird in Alabama (his name is
Casper!): https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/kids-pets/a28713498/rare-albino-hummingbird-alabama/
-
High Speed Cameras Reveal How Hummingbirds Can
Turn on a Dime: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/high-speed-cameras-reveal-how-hummingbirds-can-turn-dime
-
Comprehensive Look At Hummingbird Life &
Behaviors from the San Diego Zoo (this zoo has an extensive Hummingbird Aviary
and San Diego is home to three hummingbird species!): https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/hummingbird
-
Why Hummingbirds Have a Sweet Tooth (note that
some misinformation exists in this article as the researcher never acknowledges
that hummingbirds also need to eat many small soft-bodied insects to
survive): https://www.insidescience.org/video/why-hummingbirds-have-sweet-tooth
-
How Do Hummingbirds Drink (Excellent article
about this topic!): https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/hummingbird-tongues/546992/
-
Dirty Feeders Are Killing Hummingbirds
(Informative and a warning!): https://www.fox21online.com/2019/06/05/animal-answers-dirty-feeders-are-killing-hummingbirds/
ONLINE
RESOURCES
- Michael & Kathi Rock website, Gardening for
Hummingbirds in the Upper Midwest: hummingbirdgardening.net
- Great Lakes HummerNet (Allen Chartier, bander in
Michigan): http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm
- The Hummingbird Forum: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/featheredfriends/the-hummingbird-forum-f439743/
-Hummingbird Research (incorporates the work and
philosophy of the late Bob Sargent and the now defunct Hummer/Bird Study Group): http://www.hummingbirdresearch.net/
-Flowers By The Sea Plant Nursery (contains so much
information about tropical salvias and other hummingbird plants---look for an
article about us on their site!) : www.fbts.com
-Facebook has many groups devoted to hummingbirds
including (but certainly not limited to) The Hummingbird Whisperer and
Hummingbirds Anonymous. Additionally,
there is a “Wisconsin Hummingbirds” Group, which is very active.
Michael & Kathi Rock
5118 Buffalo Trail
Madison, WI
53705
608-233-7397
website:
hummingbirdgardening.net
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