Little Speedsters!

  Now here is something for you to ponder.  An average heart rate for a hummingbird is approximately 250 times per minute...while resting! Compare that to a human heart rate of between 60 and 100 beats per minute and you can see what an amazing thing this is!  Now....figure this!  When in flight the heart rate of the hummingbird goes up to a whopping 1,220 times per minute! Our hearts would have exploded far before reaching that stage!  Supposedly, the maximum human heart rate during activity can roughly be figured at 220 minus the person's age. I am no expert on hearts. I just find the hummingbird/human comparison interesting.

  I was pondering all of this today as I sat watching hummingbirds divebomb each other as they tried to sip nectar from the trumpet vine. Those diving flights are amazingly fast with each being close to 40 mph.  For such a tiny bird, they lead some fast moving lives!  This is all about survival. The little birds need to fill up as much as possible on this stop of their migration.  It will not be long before they head further south.  This last jaunt will take them across the Gulf of Mexico and will be a nonstop flight.  It will take them nigh on twenty hours of straight flying to reach their next pit stop before heading on into Central America.  Once they began that journey across the water, they will have to endure whatever weather they find.  It is not an easy flight.  

  The little birds, today, were feeding heavily.  Not only is the yard filled with flowers, I have several feeders filled for their dining pleasure.  The feeders will stay until the weather cools and the birds are on their merry way.  It is the least I can do for these fine feathered friends! 

  Oh...and consider this!  Those tiny wings beat an average of 60 to 80 times per second in normal flight so how many beats of the wings will it take to get across the Gulf of Mexico???  Geez!  Eat up, Little Hummers!  You are going to need that extra energy! (We, humans, are slackers!)

Not your average "hummingbird"!

  I filled and hung my hummingbird feeders this past week.  I admit that I am a tad late in doing this but figured it was better late than never.  The hummers have been visiting the Red Buckeye, Wisteria and roses for quite a while now so they have not been going hungry.  Still I thought I would offer them a bit of nectar from the feeders to supplement their diet. I was surprised that I have not noticed any visiting the feeders when I would be out and about the gardens.  My first thought was that they needed to find the feeders but then realized that this should not be a problem as I hung them in the Rose/Herb Garden.  Hummers were busy working the roses so why were they not at the feeders?
 
  This morning, I found the answer to my question.  As I let Ms. Ez, the Bayou Dog, out to do her business, a flutter of wings caught my attention. Aha!  Were the hummers busy this morning after a most stormy night on the Bayou? All hopes were dashed when I realized that this was no hummingbird!  My nectar feeders were being raided by House Finches!  A pair of finches were filling their tummies with the sweet nectar.  The male finch sat high on the hook holding the feeder while the female tried to balance on the feeder.  There she would sip and swing!  He kept a close watch on Nycto, the new cat!

  Having the finches grab a sip or two from the nectar feeders did not bother me in the least.  If the hummingbirds were not going to make use of the free offerings, why should the finches not?  Several times today (between the rain storms), the pair came to one feeder or another. Usually, he sat standing guard while she fed.  After a bit, the two would fly away only to have him come back to feed.  I suppose she is trying to hatch another batch of eggs and was afraid to let them cool too long.  Once the rains started nonstop, she never returned.  Well, if this helps her a bit, then I am all for it!  Help yourself, Mama Finch.  You will need your strength to find food for your little ones soon enough!

Home Again!

The Hummingbirds are back!  I was out doing a bit of trimming with the weedwhacker when I spied not one but two Ruby Throated Hummingbirds flitting about the Day Lilies.  I kept watch as I trimmed and noticed that they would not stay long at each flower as if there was just not enough nectar to keep them happy.  I decided right then and there that as soon as I finished trimming, I would clean and fill the feeders.  I had put the feeders in the storage cabinet for the winter and had just not even thought of hanging them as of yet.  Those hummers changed that in a hurry!  Mark and I had seen one nigh on a month ago at the Buckeye Tree but it just never occurred to me that the feeders were not out yet.  That had to be remedied....and quick!

After finishing my chores, I gathered together a number of the feeders and proceeded to clean each thoroughly.  The feeders were still relatively clean, they just needed a good rinsing to rid them of any accumulated dust.  Then I mixed up a nice batch of nectar and tried to fill the bottles.  Each of the glass bottles had no problems but the plastic feeder bottles had obviously dry-rotted in the cabinet!  The seams began to leak almost instantly!  This would never do!  I filled the two glass bottle feeders that my daughter, Elizabeth had given to me several years ago!  Those worked great!  Next came the plate feeder.  This was one that Mark bought and is great except for one problem.  It is shallow and holds less than a cup of nectar.  The hummers love it but that makes for a heap of filling for me.

As I filled the feeders, I pondered if one was better than the other.  I have seen birds at both kinds and never thought there was a difference other than personal preference but I did a bit of research.  What I found did not surprise me at all..the style of feeder does not matter, the difference is in the nectar itself.  Most hummingbird "specialists" recommend that you make your own "artificial nectar" instead of using the bought kind.  So...once this box of goo is used up, I will start making my own.  It sounds simple enough and will definitely be a lot more cost efficient!  (I am all about saving money!)  Another point these specialists stress..keep the feeders clean and free from ants.  Now I admit that I do have a bit of a problem with ants and wasps.  A "moat" is the deterrent of choice as it will not have adverse effects on the birds.  A simple moat can be made by drilling a hole in a plastic cap from something such as a detergent bottle.  The hanging wire should be slipped through the hole and the hole sealed with silicon sealer or hot glue.  This moat will be hung cup side up and filled with water.  The ants cannot get passed the water to the feeder ports!

For any who wish to make their own nectar for hummingbird feeders, it is as simple as this.  Mix one part ordinary white cane sugar to four parts tap water.  Just stir well to dissolve and then fill the clean feeders.  Any leftover mixture can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.  It is not really necessary to boil the water as this will not keep it from fermenting any longer than not boiling.  Do not use honey, red food dye, fruit juice, brown sugar nor Jello mix.  These will all cause major problems and we do not want problems..we want hummingbirds!

Fall is here!

Today is the first day of Fall! Cooler weather..brilliant leaves..pumpkins! Yeah..right! I wish someone would have reminded Mother Nature of this..the temperature here on the Bayou was in the high 90's today making it more like midsummer! I have been looking forward to this season for some time now. We have had a seemingly very hot summer and the promise of cool, crisp evenings sounds Heavenly! I understand that this will not happen overnight but..Fall is here and this makes me happy.

Another thing made me happy today. My sweet daughter bought me two new hummingbird feeders and today there were hummers flitting all about them. These are really very pretty feeders unlike the cheap, plastic ones that I usually have hanging around the garden. The bottle part of this one is a gorgeous soft green glass and it has a coppery-tone base to it. I filled them with fresh nectar and carried them to the rose garden. I needed to install new hanging brackets on the posts as the old ones had rusted and I did not trust them to hold my new feeders. The little hummers could hardly wait until I hung them and as a matter of fact..one did not. I placed the feeder on a garden bench as I installed the new brackets. My skills using a screwdriver are

lacking so it took this took a few minutes. I guess one hummer was really hungry because when I turned to pick up the feeder, it was sipping the nectar while the feeder was still on the bench! I had to wait before hanging the feeder as to not scare it. They are such tiny birds and are really quite fearless. Eventually, it flew to the rose arbor and waited patiently for me to finish. After hanging both feeders, I sat on the bench and watched. Within minutes of hanging them, I counted seven hummers hovering about waiting their turn! This hot weather must have them very thirsty, too!

While out in the back, I noticed the grapefruit tree is well laden again this year. The higher limbs are starting to sag with the weight of the fruit making me wonder about the strength of the limbs. Grapefruit trees must have a very strong wood as these fruits are all hanging on a tiny twig of a limb about the size of a lead pencil. When you consider that each fruit weighs in a more than a pound and there are about twenty-five of them clustered on each limb..well???? I just hope they can hold on for another two months. Sometime in November, they will ripen enough for us to pick. It does appear that we will have a good crop this year!