Flights of Fancy
JEFFERSON TWP — On Tuesday, the first of Laurel and Jim Stoner's annual feathered guests arrived on the Stoners' balcony at Haven III of Concordia at Cabot.
Until the fall, the Stoners will watch the blur of wings as four or five hummingbirds dart to the feeder, hover, retreat and repeat, again and again.
“We have these old people's chairs,” Laurel Stoner said. “We sit and we can see the bird feeder, and we'll sit in the morning and have coffee and watch them.”
The couple has about 35 years of experience with the impressive creatures.
“You can just say we're for the birds,” Laurel Stoner said.
Among all the bird feeders at their former home in Pottsville in eastern Pennsylvania, the Stoners had a specific area set aside for hummingbirds.
“We'd like to be able to put little dots on them so we know which ones are which,” Laurel Stoner said.
Instead, they tell the hummingbirds apart by behavior, body size and shape, color and markings and give them names like Big Dipper, the Dunker and Skittish.
“I just enjoy them and it gives you something to do when you're bored,” said Alice Adams, another Haven III resident who courts the hummingbirds to her balcony. When she had a house in Sarver, Adams said she had hummingbird feeders as well as other bird feeders.
“Pretty much the only hummingbird we're going to find in this area is the ruby throated hummingbird,” said Ryan Stauffer, the environmental educator at the Audubon Society's Succop Nature Park, 185 W. Airport Road, in Penn Township. He said they are a relatively common bird.
“Hummingbirds are popular among birdwatchers because they are different than other birds, they are easy to attract, they are easy to identify and they are entertaining to watch,” said Stephanie Taylor, an environmental education specialist at Jennings Environmental Education Center, 2951 Prospect Road in Brady Township.Stauffer said the birds are about 3 inches long and weigh 3 to 4 grams each, about the weight of a nickel. They nearly double their mass — like airplanes putting on fuel — for their 500-mile migration across the Gulf of Mexico. Still, how do the tiny dynamos travel so far without eating?“Isn't that the question. How do they pull that off?” said Stauffer who thinks their flying may take less energy than hovering.“Can you imagine those little things flying all the way to the Gulf of Mexico?” Adams said. “I get tired thinking about it.”Taylor said “Journey North” and other websites track hummingbird migration. Homeowners can put up their feeders once the birds are close.The brighter iridescent male arrives a bit earlier than the female.Once in their territory, Stauffer said the hummingbirds mate and spend 10 days building a nest 2 to 3 inches around from spider silk and lichen. Spider silk lets the nest expand as the new birds grow.He said the male defends the territory while the female incubates one to three eggs for 12 to 14 days.After hatching, the female feeds the new birds, and after 18 to 22 more days, they are ready to fly.The youngsters stay in the area for the rest of the season, and the following year they will return to a similar ecosystem.Stauffer said a hummingbird-friendly yard has feeders, all kinds of flowers that bloom at different times and a source of water.“They have to visit 1,000 to 2,000 flowers a day,” Stauffer said. “(It's) all about energy.”“You can be sitting out there and they'll come and eat whether you're there or not,” Adams said. “If they're hungry, they'll eat.”Or at least attempt to. Adams even saw one trying to get nectar from an artificial flower on her balcony.Stauffer said nectar contains sugar that supports the birds' high metabolic rate. Their daytime body temperature is 104 degrees.At night they are in torpor with one fifteenth of their normal metabolic rate and a body temperature of 64 degrees.“It's almost like a hibernation rate,” Stauffer said.He said a hummingbird's heart rate is 12,000 beats a minute.“They are just vibrating with life,” Stauffer said. “They're basically on the edge of starving to death constantly.”On Wednesday, Butler County master gardener Diane Walczak saw the first hummingbird of the year on her feeder in Prospect.She said in gardens hummingbirds prefer tubular blooms and love azaleas. The birds pollinate rhododendrons and other blooming plants when they get pollen on their feet and body and transfer it to the next flower.“They find the flowers by sight, and they prefer certain colors,” Walczak said. “Red, orange and pink are the main flowers that will draw them in.”Laurel Stoner said the hummingbirds in Pottsville loved rose of Sharon.“Last year I had petunias and they seemed to do well with that,” Adams said.
It's not all flowers and sweetness for hummingbirds.Walczak said hummingbirds are very territorial and will fight over the feeders. Then there are the local predators. Stauffer mentioned egg-thieving squirrels and black snakes.Taylor said, “It's best to place (feeders) at least 5 feet off the ground to avoid predators, such as cats. They also like to have some sort of shelter, like a bush or a tree, nearby for protection.“It's good to place (feeders) in the shade so that the nectar doesn't spoil as easily. Nectar should be changed about every three days.”She said the feeder's design allows the long beak of the hummingbird to reach nectar as it would with a flower.“It's a miracle how they can find that little hole in that feeder,” Adams said. “They must have accurate aim.”The Stoners like the feeders with a little perch so the birds will stop and dunk more.“It doesn't have to be costly,” Jim Stoner said. “It can be a plastic thing or it can be glass.”Taylor fills her feeder with homemade nectar.“Nectar can be made simply by mixing four parts water with one part sugar. Add (this) to a pan and heat to boiling. Remove from (the) heat and allow (it) to cool before using,” Taylor said.“You want to put sterile feed in there,” Stauffer said.Feeders must be clean also. Stauffer said to wash them frequently. He cleans his feeders twice a week with soap and hot water.Walczak said to be sure to clean the feeder's little flowers too.Although the birds mostly consume nectar, Walczak has seen them eat ants. Taylor said they also eat mosquitoes, gnats, fruit flies and spiders and can catch them midair.Some human fans like to put nectar in their palms to feed the birds directly.“Hummingbirds are wild animals, it is best not to hand feed wild animals. The Internet has many videos and photos of this, so it is possible.
“If people want to observe them up close, a feeder is the best and safest way for this to happen,” Stauffer said.“It's best to keep them (the feeders) up all summer and not take them down until they no longer see hummingbirds coming to them,” Taylor said. “Hummingbirds know when it's time to migrate and will leave when they are supposed to.”Stauffer said the life span of these extraordinary birds averages three to five years in the wild. They may come back to the same place each year if the conditions are right.“They have a great sense of navigation and direction,” Stauffer said.Over a season the birds become like friends. Once the birds got used to the Stoners, they could get within 3 feet of them. Then, even Jim Stoner's red shirt would attract the hummingbirds.Jim Stoner said, “They'd come over and buzz you.”“I love them so we'll take whoever comes,” he said.
