Six!

Over the years I have watched many hummingbirds at my feeders and gardens, but have never had more than two attempt to feed at the same time...and never successfully, for one always drives the other away. Always.

Well, things were looking pretty much the same here, when one day I saw TWO sitting down to eat together. Amazing!

 I'd forgotten I had hung this feeder right off the side porch, so I refilled it the other day and this is what I watched that evening:

Evening Walk Down the Road

It's been in the 80s this week already.  The woods are now flushed with green - mostly honeysuckles - and I think I saw some shadbushes (serviceberries) in bloom as well. 

As the sun sinks in the west and the evening starts to cool, Toby and I find it hard to resist longer walks.  Going down the road and around the corner, we have another lovely old barn, hard by a nice old orchard.

We met the owner of the orchard this evening, who was out walking her spaniel.  It seems, however, that she and her husband are slowly tearing out the apple trees.  What a pity - there are probably some old heritage varieties in there.  They bought the place 15 years ago and have no interest in maintaining the orchard.  Mostly it feeds the deer now.  I'd love to know what varieties are in there.

Our first snake of the season was sadly a roadkill.  It was a lovely large garter snake.  I am constantly amazed at the turquoise blue these snakes turn after death. I am curious as to why, so of course I did a search on-line.  As it turns out, it has to do with chemistry as well as physiology.  "After death, green snakes turn blue in dorsal coloration. Yellow and blue pigments in the skin fuse to produce the bright green color in the living snakes. After death, the yellow pigment breaks down very quickly, whereas the blue pigment is more stable and remains much longer. This is also why garter snakes, that have been dead for a while have blue dorsal and lateral stripes." (from www.HerpNet.net)  

I picked up my deceased friend and placed it gently in the grass by a tree.  

There were times in the Adirondacks when I bemoaned the lack of oak trees.  My life is more than making up for this former lack.  The historic landscape of this part of Michigan was largely oak savanna - lots of oak trees.  I am having to work at relearning my oaks - red vs white is easy enough, but then one must consider swamp white, burr, pin, chinquapin, black, fire, and more! One thing I do know - the oaks (I think these are the white oaks) are all gnarly and contorted in their growth pattern.  Silhouetted against the sky they make ideal spooky Hallowe'en trees!  There's something almost Seussian about them.

The forsythia are in full bloom - all within two days!

Last night I heard my first towhee of the season, and saw my first bat.  The woodcocks are in full display, and the killdeer are back.  I hear meadowlarks each morning and evening, too.  Gary thinks he heard a blue-grey gnatcatcher yesterday. 

Rumor has it we should put out our hummingbird feeders.  Not so much for the northward-bound ruby-throats, which are still in Tennessee, but for the possible wayward other species that just might show up!  I must give mine a good cleaning and make up some nectar.

Unwanted (but not unloved) Guest

When I got home yesterday after work, I decided to dig up potatoes. It wasn't a joyous occasion (found some disgusting slime that was formerly spuds), but at least I got a few.

I was schlepping the spuds into the house when I heard the distinctive fluttering sound on the porch - I had another hummer.

Like the other hummers I've had, she was battering herself against the top of the window. For some reason, they get stuck there and do not think to look for another exit. I have no idea how long she had been there, but she was looking pretty tired and battered. It was easy to grab her.



I took her outside to one of the flower gardens, thinking she probably needed some nutrition pretty soon (birds can fail so quickly). I opened my hand, but she just lay there, blinking so slowly, and with a barely perceptible heartbeat. I thought for sure I would lose her. She closed her eyes and nearly flopped over, but in a blink she rose from my hand and flew to the bee balm, buzzing around the flowers and sticking her beak into the blossoms for sustenance.

All was well.

Unexpected Guest

When I get home from work at the end of the day, Toby greets me at the door, bouncing and happy. We usually head right out the back door to toss and chase a few balls, etc. Sometimes I stop to change out of my uniform first, as I did last night. And it's a good thing I did for there in the bedroom was an unexpected guest: a female hummingbird flying madly about the ceiling!

Who knows how long the poor thing had been trapped in the house! I had left the back door open so the dog and cat could go out and enjoy the sunshine if they do desired, and she must've zipped in.

The first thing I did was shut the bedroom door - it wouldn't do to have to chase her through the whole house! Then I opened a window. I tried guiding her towards it, but she was having no part of it. Around and around she flew. She'd rest for a couple seconds on the ceiling fan (which, thankfully, was off), then she'd take flight again.

At a loss for a solution, I called our rehabber, who came up with the answer! I quickly mixed up some sugar and water and put it in one of my hummingbird feeders (which I never put out this year). I set the feeder on the window and it only took a few seconds for the bird to see the bright red and land for a drink, which I have no doubt she desparately needed! Once there in the open window, and refueled, she lifted off and disappeared into the yard.

I guess I'll have to think twice now about leaving that door open when I'm not home!

Nature's Mobile Jewels

Yesterday evening found me planting my peas - I just couldn't put it off any longer. Four beds of peas! That's the most I've done yet, but in fairness, I was using up all my old pea seeds as well as planting my new-for-'09 seeds.

And once the seeds were in the ground, they got a drink (it's hard to believe that despite almost an inch of rain over the weekend the ground is still very, very dry), and then I went to get my row covers to protect those precious seeds from prying beaks.

As I neared the porch (where assorted gardening things are stored), I started to hear a very loud buzzing. "That's too loud to be a bee," I thought, and it was accompanied by a papery fluttering noise. "Perhaps a large moth is flying against the porch window." I looked up, and there was something flying against the window: a male hummingbird! The poor thing had flown in through the open door and was trying desperately to exit through a closed window. He was now trapped between glass and venetian blind.

Ellen to the rescue!

I closed the door going from house to porch (didn't want him to exit the porch by flying into the house), and then lifted the blind to see if he would settle enough for me to grab him. And he did. I gently enfolded his body in my hand (it was like holding air) and carried him outside. The poor little thing was peeping away, no doubt terrified. When I opened my hand to release him, he sat there for half a moment, and zip - he lifted up and away (much like a helicopter), heading towards the neighbor's yard.

I've been reading of hummingbird sightings for the last week and a half or so all around the Park, so I knew they would be showing up in Newcomb soon. The males return first, followed shortly by the females. Everyone will be feeding at feeders and flowers for a while, and then, almost like a tap being turned off, they suddenly seem to disappear. A few weeks later, hummers are swarming gardens and feeders like hoards of bees: the young have fledged and are learning all the good feeding spots from Mom and Dad.

Hummingbird feeders can be a real boon to hummers, especially this early in the season when there aren't a lot of flowers in bloom yet. And you don't need to purchase special mixes - in fact, it's often best if you make your own. Boil 4 cups of water. Put a cup of sugar in a bowl and add the water. Mix and cool. Add to feeders as needed. (Note: you do not need any red coloring in the nectar you have just mixed up.)

What kind of feeders are best? Those that are easiest to clean!!! And yes, you do need to clean them. Hot water and a brush. No soap, no bleach. You want to scrub the part that holds the nectar, and you want to scrub out the feeding ports. If you don't, mold will build up, and this isn't good. How often do you need to clean? Once a week is usually pretty good, but as the season gets hot, you may need to clean more often.

I have discovered over the years that I don't need to have feeders out all summer long. I usually put them out when the first hummer shows up, and once the gardens are in full swing and there are plenty of natural sources of nectar, I clean them up and put them away. What flowers are good for hummers? Oh, anything with a tubular blossom: bee balm, fuchsias, sweet peas, runner beans, nasturtiums...

Keep in mind that hummers eat insects, too! And spiders! So sweet nectar isn't their only source of food, and a good thing, too, since there is little nutrition in sugar water.

Mother's Day Musings

This Mother's Day, while thinking of my own mother, I thought it was appropriate to also extend my thoughts to our Mother Earth as well, without whom none of us would be here.

The Mohawks have a wonderful Thanksgiving Address that everyone should hear at least once. I have been fortunate to hear it in both the Mohawk language as well as in English, at a tree planting ceremony overseen by Jake Swamp (Tekaronianeken), who among other things is the founder of the Tree of Peace Society. He's also published a wonderful children's book based on the Thanksgiving Address. I highly recommend it to everyone, regardless of age. Today is a good day for that address, to give thanks to Mother Earth for all she has done for us.

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The ruby-throated hummingbirds are back. I saw one yesterday buzz by my rhododendrons, no doubt looking for some food. I immediately went inside and brewed up a batch of nectar (1c sugar to 4c boiling water), resurrected the feeders, and placed them all outside. By mid-afternoon the hummers were buzzing all about the yard and sipping nectar from the feeders. Their arrival never seems to coincide with the right plants blooming. I guess it's a good thing they also eat insects and spiders!

And since the bluebirds have arrived (although I've only seen the one and that was last Tuesday), I suppose it is time for me to start weekly checks on the nestbox trail. I have a bluebird workshop next Sunday, so I need to brush up on that as well.

One final thought for the day. Awareness. It is amazing just how unaware we are in our daily activities. For instance, what color are the eyes of the last person with whom you spoke? What phase is the moon in right now? From where you are sitting right now, which direction is north? What is the largest item on your immediate left (without looking)? I've recently started a wilderness awareness course and have discovered that while I know things like bird ID, plant ID, basic tracking techniques, how to use a map and compass, etc., my basic awareness skills, or more accurately my observation skills, are sorely lacking!!! I suspect this is due to a life lived in routine. So, I am working on changing this, and I encourage everyone else to do so as well. Maybe this is the answer to Alzheimer's!