NEXT AVENUE - SPECIAL SECTION
hummingbirds -- a female was ringed (banded) in Tallahassee, Florida and recovered up in Alaska. She'd covered almost three and a half thousand miles. That's a huge migration by any standards, but for a bird which weighs effectively the same as a penny, that's just mind-boggling to me. And also, you know, for a bird which is largely fueled on sugar. That's amazing, too. What these birds are doing is kind of surfing the advent of spring, where they're trying to move north just as stuff is starting to come into bloom, which they can feed on because they don't really have fat reserves to speak of. They're not like some birds, which plump up massively, and then just go for it with a really long migration and just burn that body mass. Next Avenue: Speaking of eating, there's a fascinating account in the book of how they eat — and it's probably not how many of us imagined. They're not using their bills as straws?
Hummingbirds feed at flowers, and what the hummingbird's tongue actually does when it's immersed in nectar, it blooms, it flowers for itself.
So, lots of tiny little flaps along the length of the tongue open up as it's immersed in liquid. And then when the tongue is retracted out of the liquid, the flaps close and they trap the nectar within. The entire feeding process — the dipping in and out of the tongue — is feeding passively on the nectar, is not having to lap it like a cat.
It's an incredibly efficient way of feeding, because the hummingbird isn't expending any particular energy in doing this.
Next Avenue: Do you have any parting tips for backyard birders who want to attract more hummers?
Obviously if you're going to put a hummingbird feeder up, make sure you clean it regularly. Don't let that thing get stale and stinky, because hummingbirds need clean, fresh, sugar water. Use refined sugar rather than unrefined sugar. It needs to be the stuff which isn't good for us — the pure white stuff. It's great for hummingbird feeders. But most important, if you've got a backyard, plant some native wildflowers, and nectar-bearing plants. Audubon has a native plants database on their website and that is a brilliant resource to have a look at and try and pick some things which will give you some colors throughout the summer.
So, you know, you've still got a pretty yard, but at the same time something which provides successional nectar sources for the hummingbirds. All photos by Jon Dunn
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