Protection Farm mid september 2010

Jajean's Sycamore back of barn

 Virgin's Bower (Clematis virginiana) (aka Devils Darning Needles, Devil's Hair, Love Vine, Wild Hops, Woodbine) in the far meadow near the Marsh Trail, blossom week of July 20
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/dmna/clematis-virg.html
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CLVI5

Dawn on the the last day of the hummers

Sept 20, a beautiful, hot sunny day, and the shade under the "wedding trees" is really nice.

Photo take on Sept 20, 2010.  The garden still has a lot of active blooms including a few red bee balms, and the new blooming astors. the milkweed has long gone to seed, as have the joe pye weed. Black-eyed susan hanging in there. the yard is silent except for a few bees and other insects. not many birds.  Occasional Canada Geese, the Red Tail across the way, and earlier today a Pileated, but the hummers, bluebirds are gone, as are the redwings. there is some chickadee actiity, and the red and white nuthatches are beginning to show up.  Occasionally a goldfinch is here.

The water level at the marsh is getting higher every day. Jonna is standing behind the path that we always use. You can see the original pond area in the top center

not sure,  but they like the milkweed

Every day is catnip day now

Rosie will take every bit of sun 

the nights can get long but TV is us. Winged Migration on WNED-Tv kept us all interested for several hours

The Departure of the Ruby-throats

September 15, 2010

There are a lot of beautiful birds at Protection Farm and some of the most fun to associate with are the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. They have tremendously large personalities, and ever since Lucky came to our farm, they always seem to relate to the humans here in a sincere, deliberate, energetic,  and friendly way. They arrive after a long migration on or about Memorial Day and they depart in mid September. This year, right on cue, they departed on September 15 after a plentiful summer and an extraordinarily memorable last couple of days.


Ruby-throats are the only hummingbirds, except for the occasional rare stray, in this part of North America. They are the only hummingbirds that breed east of the Mississippi except in the far south. they are tiny bundles of energy that partake in an almost unbelievable migration twice each year. Ours travel to and from Protection Farm and may go as far as Costa Rica. Each time, they make a non stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico.  They are tiny, weighing at most about 3 grams, or less then an ounce.

The males are distinguished by their brilliant red ruby colored throats that flash in the sun.  While they are determined individualists, they have a complex and excited social life.  This year at Protection Farm we had 6 adults, 2 male and 4 female. We did not see that there were any young hatched here, but it is possible that we just weren’t observant enough. Hummingbirds can live up to 12 years. I wonder if any of our hummingbirds are actually the same "Lucky" the individual that we rescued a couple of years ago. (See Lucky the Hummingbird elsewhere on this blog).

http://protectionfarmjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/story-of-lucky-hummingbird.html

Maybe at least we had some of the same birds from last year. I have been told that each year, the last years walnut sized nest is used. I assume at least sometimes it is by the same individual female.

They are conspicuous by their activities and their vocalizations. They emit a high frequency chirping sound which gets more excited when they encounter other hummingbirds, larger insects, and, well, me. They are highly territorial and spend a lot of time chasing each other. They are aggressive toward bees, especially as the bees try to gather feeder juice.  Ruby-throats drink nectar and it is easy to plant for them. 

We  have a number of feeders. Our front yard garden was planted with these birds in mind.  Jajean spent a lot of time building this garden with for these special birds and and butterflies and other insects that we want to attract and create a healthy food source and habitat for.  We have 5 hummingbird feeder stations, including one in the back, with the rest in the front yard garden. It has been common to have all six birds interacting at the same time. They also feed on insects and occassionally we get to watch them plucking them off leaves, or chasing them in the air.

We had incredible and interesting interactions with these birds every day.  Many, if not all of the individuals recognize us, generally speaking, and seem to want to be around us.  They know that we fill the feeders with sugar water.  Often I would stand in the garden, and one would fly right up to my face, checking me out. It would look directly at me, inches from my face and slip side to side, up and down really getting a good look at me.  Sometimes it would chirp, land next to me. Sometimes, if I made a sudden move, it would fly off. Sometimes I would talk, make sounds, utter some gentle noise, or try to imitate its chirping, and often the little birds, like many birds at Protection Farm, would look at me, cock its head, as if trying to understand what the heck I was saying.

One early August day as Jonna and I came back to the farm in the early evening, I noticed a hummingbird sitting very still on one of the feeders.  I went inside and after a few minutes, noticed that it was still sitting on the feeder. I went out to the porch and looked at it more closely.  It was just sitting there, perched, seemingly oblivious to all around it. I knew something was up when another hummingbird landed right next to it. The new bird looked at it, took a drink of nectar, looked at the first bird again, and flew off.  I went down to the feeder and came up from behind and gently put my hand around it. It offered no resistance.  It was warm, and alive, and its eyes were tightly shut. I brought it up to the porch were I gave it to Jonna to hold, and went inside to mix up some sugar nectar.  When I offered it to this bird, it took it reflexively with its tongue eagerly darting in and out of its beak. It reminded me of the episode with Lucky from a few years ago.  

Eventually this little bird regained its composure, opened its eyes, and within half an hour, flew off to the forest edge. Darkness was beginning to settle in and so we were not able to watch what happened with it next. The next morning, early, I went outside and a hummingbird flew right up to me. It seemed to be going right by me on the way to the feeder when it noticed me.  It stopped in mid-air, backed up and came right up to my face. I am talking a foot or less away.  It gave me a good look over, flew from one side of my face to the other. I finally said, "hey little bird", and it flew off back toward the trees.

Hummingbirds are great acrobats. Their flying and social antics are really fun and full of excitement. They chase each other back and forth like little jets, up around, down, through the garden plants, all around the yard, and through the trees. Sometimes two or three would come together and have a loud and raucous exchange which almost always resulted in a chase to the woods by one or the other or all.  These birds also have a very interesting habit which is sometimes thought to be a courtship, but I have also seen two males or two females act this out. One of the birds will swoop back and forth in a widening arch, up and down, back and forth, back and forth. And then the two would fly off sometimes together, sometimes separately.

These tiny birds migrate far to the south, often reaching central or South America.  Ruby-throats are common in Costa Rica in the months of northern winter.  It is remarkable that these tiny birds actually negotiate across the Gulf of Mexico on a single flight.

The last day that they were here, September 15, 2010 started bright and warm. The few days leading up to this sunny day had been cold and rainy days.  I knew the hummers would be off soon, and I must say I was a little anxious.  In the spring I am always anxious in anticipation for their return and that late May week is always a fun one.   On this day, I had not seen the hummers the day before. I had been away most of the day, and when I was here I only looked for them  briefly because it was so cool and rainy and my time outside had been short.  This morning I looked outside and noticed that the main feeder was empty, so I went out to fill it. Immediately a hummer came to my side and watched, floating about 10 feet and then five away as I took the feeder down.  I really enjoy these bird greetings and look forward to them. This one was making quite a racket, and it seemed directed at me.  After a moment, I brought the feeder inside, filled it, and brought it back outside and hung it up. The first thing I noticed this time was that there were a number of yellow jackets near the porch, buzzing about, and on the railing. They immediately went to the feeder and started poking into the feeder openings. I went back inside and sat down at the computer. Within a few minutes I heard a commotion outside. I could see from my window that there were 2 hummers and they were arguing with one another. They were kind of chasing each other, meeting face to face near the feeder, and then chasing some more.  Then they would return one at a time to the feeder. They acted aggressive toward the Yellow Jackets on the feeder.  They kept poking at them and chasing them away from the feeder.  This was usually very effective and they had kept the feeders really clear of bees all summer. Today these birds were extremely agitated, much more than usual. I went out to the porch and they quickly departed. I noticed again that the feeder was covered with yellow jackets. I took it down, shook it off, and brought it into the house for about half an hour. When I brought it back  outside, before I even had a chance to hang it there were three hummers in the immediate vicinity watching me. OK, I get the hint, they are hungry. Two perched in the garden, which was nearly devoid of nectar producing blossoms. The other went right to the feeder and started sipping. I stayed on the porch to watch as one after another the three hummers went to the feeder for long drinks. Then another hummer showed up.  The four were silently sharing the space and seemed almost friendly with one another.  The hummers had probably been without my food for a couple of cold days. Their clock was undoubtedly ticking toward the inevitable departure. Then the yellow jackets began showing up again and this irritated the birds. They began fighting the yellow jackets that seemed to be arriving in greater numbers. First there were only a few, then a dozen then at least 2 dozen.   never really more than that and I retreated inside.  After an hour or so, at about noon I heard a big racket outside. The feeder was nearly empty and there were a lot of yellow jackets on it. I went out to once again clean it off, and when I opened the door, one Ruby-throat came immediately to me and hovered in front of my face staring at me. Then it started chirping in a very excited way. It looked directly at me, and moved back and forth still looking directly at my face.  After a few seconds of this it flew off, I watched, and I retrieved the feeder and brought it inside. I decided to wait a while before refilling it, rather than feed and encourage the Yellow Jackets.

I went back to work and it was a couple of hours before I finished. I refilled the feeder and brought it back out to the porch hanger.  I noticed that the other feeders were all empty. I did not see a hummingbird.  A half hour later I went out and it was covered again with yellow jackets. I moved it back inside, and then an hour later moved it back out trying to discourage the insects.   By late afternoon I had done this a couple of times and it was obvious that I was feeding yellow jackets and not hummers. That had not happened all summer. The hummers were able to defend this feeder from all bees and other insects. Since that last episode between myself and the chirping bird, which may in fact have been "Lucky"  I have not seen them. As of this writing, it has been nearly a week.

It is always melancholy when friends depart.  It was hard when the bluebirds left a few weeks ago, although I know that they are in the area and will be back.  Today, as I write this it is very quiet outside, and the only bird sounds are the occasional Canada Geese, a flock of Wood ducks on the marsh, and a Pileated off in the distance.  I hope the delightful Ruby-throats that shared the summer with us have a safe and wonderful journey, maybe all the way to Coast Rica!

The Story of Lucky the Hummingbird

Note: I first wrote and published this story on Memorial Day of 2008

I republish it here September 20, 2010.

This is one of the feeders that jajean and i hung on the morning of May 24, 2009

Memorial Day 2008

We had a remarkable experience at Protection Farm last week, just a few days before Memorial Day.

A male Ruby-throat flew non-stop last week across the Gulf of Mexico. A day or so later it was probably resting somewhere in the Carolinas.  My sister, who lives in Myrtle Beach called me to tell me that the Ruby-throats had arrived. After a brief rest, it flew north and came into WNY.  This bird ended up in our loving arms at Protection Farm.

Saturday, May 24 saw the arrival of the first Ruby-throats in our area.  They came in on a cold front which dropped the Friday temperatures overnight into Saturday dawn to near freezing. Early in the morning Jajean and I saw two at the farm and we put up feeders right away. By noon we were visited by at least 3 males, maybe five. All seemed energetic and spirited.

The cold must have taken its toll on some of the birds however.  Just after noon on Saturday Ana and I went to Buckwheat’s, a local greenhouse, to shop for some plants. A lady came out from the hothouse with a flat of Petunia’s. Shoving it toward us she said “Could someone get this dead bee out of this flat please”.

The sales lady at the counter who was standing close to the lady looked at the flat and said, “That’s no bee, that’s a baby bird.”  I walked over, looked in, and saw two tiny bird feet sticking straight up in the air.

The sales lady quickly plucked the tiny and apparently lifeless body out of the flat, looked at it, shrugged, and placed it on an empty hanging planter next to where I was standing.  I peered in closely. It was a male Ruby-throat, At first it seemed very dead. It may have been stuck in the box for a couple of days or longer, maybe shipped here from somewhere south.  I was sadly admiring its remarkable body, apparently dead, when it shuddered.

I immediately reached over to it and cupped it in my hands. It was alive. It’s heart was beating at what seemed like a thousand times a second. It moved a bit in my hands. It’s eyes were closed. I was stuck between stunned and awestruck. I wasn’t sure if it was exhausted, injured, poisoned, crushed, or what on this earth could have happened to it.

I knew that this was the day, and perhaps for a few days before, that many Ruby-throats had arrived in the area. My best guess is that it may have just completed a long cold flight. Maybe it had been trapped in the flat when it came into the greenhouse, was sipping some nectar, and a worker placed another flat on top of the one it was in.  The shop closed for the night.  No escape.   I looked it over, and it didn’t appear to have any major physical injuries, no broken bones and from what I could see, its body seemed intact.  No blood, no bones sticking out, its tongue was inside its beak. I hoped it was not physically injured, hoped it was just cold and exhausted because I knew if that was true it had a chance, at least with me as a nurse. I have rescued a number of birds that have gone into shock. It’s not that complicated. Most birds that are injured from for instance, collisions with windows, can be saved if they do not have crushed skulls or other broken bones.   They may be unconscious or stunned.  Get them to a dark quiet place such as a shoebox or sock, put them in a loose pocket or inside your shirt. Keep them warm and safe and often they will come around.   I have done this with dozens of birds including blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, and even once a Downey Woodpecker. But never had i even held a bird this tiny.

And so I stood there in the middle of the store with this tiny bird cupped in my hands. As I pondered what to do next, I held it close to my chest.  I could feel its life pulsating. And it felt good. It was clearly not conscious. But after a minute or so it began moving. I opened my hands slightly and it rolled upright and seemed to be trying to stand. This is good I thought to myself.  I felt alone in the store as no one except Ana was paying attention to the fact that I had grabbed the bird. She looked at me wondering what in the heck I was doing.

            After a few seconds it did stand pushing gently against my cupped hands. Then it fluttered and shook its wings. They seemed relatively functional. The bird slowly stretched first one and then the other. It seemed like a baby waking up in my arms. The wings were a little slow and seemed stiff, but not broken in any way. Its legs looked whole. It didn’t appear to have a broken neck. Its eyes were still closed. Tightly closed. It was clearly not quite all there. After another minute I placed it on a hanging planter that was full of spring blossoms.

I hoped that it would recognize the flowers and maybe try to take a sip of nectar. Hummingbirds expend an enormous amount of energy and need a constant supply of high energy sugar which they get from nectar. They mix this drink with the protein from the insects that they also eat in order to keep that little heart and those little wings beating. The long, sometimes non-stop flights, as you can imagine are quite depleting. I knew that this bird could use nourishment. I hoped that that would be the whole answer because I was not at all sure how much nurture I could provide.

As it sat at the base of the plant in the hanging basket, its eyes remained closed. It was very wobbly, but breathing, and it was alive.

It did not seem to recognize or have any interest in the flowers. I reached up and pushed its head, beak first, toward one blossom. It did not react.  Instead it sort of sagged to one side.  I took a step back and watched.

After about two minutes, the bird started fluttering its wings, awkwardly. They gradually got up to a sort of speed, and I could hear them buzzing. Its eyes were still closed.  Suddenly he actually took off, eyes still closed. A sad flight path slowly spiraled the bird out the open front of the store and down until it landed on the hot blacktop of the parking lot which was just outside. I went to the heap of bird followed closely by Ana, picked it up, cupped it in my hands and said to her,” let’s go, let’s take it home.”

And so we did.

And so we hoped into our petroleum fired SUV and ironically bringing our sick little globe trekker to Protection Farm on what I thought might be the last leg of its migration.

Jajean and Jamie were busy putting together the swing that they had bought for Jonna while Ana and I traveled to the nursery to get some plants. Lucky was waiting for us.

The drive home was an adventure. Ana drove with me in the passenger seat holding our little package of life. I kept the bird cupped in my hands, and close to my chest. Everyone once in a while I would open my hands, and look. It’s eyes remained closed, but I could feel a growing energy. I could feel its heart beating, its breathing, and its gradually flexing wings.   At one point it began a high pitched chirping sound. All along its eyes remained tightly shut. 

 I told Ana that when we get home, we need to prepare a sugar syrup, and try to get it into the bird. The short 10 minute drive seemed to take forever. When we arrived Jajean and Jamie were working on constructing a swinging couch for Jonna.  Jajean grabbed a camera, Ana took the bird, and I went to the kitchen to mix the syrup water. When I finished I went outside and Jamie and Jajean were gathered around Ana and the bird.  Its condition had not appeared to change much and I hoped that the sugar water would help to bring back its life force.

I put a little syrup water inside a flower and tried to get the bird to taste it by placing the flower next to its tiny beak.

At first it did not respond. I pushed the beak in a little further.  The nectar mixture trickled down its beak. Suddenly its tongue started darting in and out of its beak. Its eyes blinked briefly, opened, seemed to be trying to focus, but did not stay open for long. I think it got a look at us four humans staring down at it and decided it was a good idea to just then not to know what was going on.  And so with its eyes tightly shut it thirstily sipped and then gulped sugar nectar. It drank, and drank, and drank, and drank. Its long tongue darting in and out repeatedly. We kept refilling the flower with sugar water. This went on for nearly 15 minutes.  We shared holding the bird.

It really came around. It stood up on its tiny legs. These legs were not made for standing on the ground, and so it was awkward, but it was standing on its own. At one point it opened its eyes looked at us hazily,  and stretched and preened a bit. After that it looked at us intensely, maybe a bit warily, and continued to drink in the sweet liquid. At one point it kind of shook and stood in my hand and took the arched backed shape of a beautiful little Ruby-throat. 

For the next hour or so the bird alternated between snoozing and preening, snoozing and drinking.  It stayed in our hands, or on the ground next to us.  We walked around the yard with the bird, carrying it with us, alternately showing it the place and feeding and nuzzling with it. The recovery was thrilling. For both human and hummer. We weren’t entirely sure that it would be complete, but things progressed nicely. At one point I asked if we should name the little creature. Jamie suggested that we call it Lucky, and the name stuck. Lucky the Hummingbird.

Eyes not quite open yet

loves the taste of the nectar

Ana feeds Lucky and warms him in the sun

Jay and Lucky, taking a break

Assuming the shape! He shook out his feathers, pushed out his chest, arched his back, and generally responded to the warm sun. What a beautiful animal!

We took a lot of photos and some video. After a couple of hours we were all sitting around under the big cherry tree near the barn, Lucky in my hand looking around at us and when he suddenly flew up, away, and landed in a big branch above our heads.  We were surprised and delighted. It stayed there for another hour or so. 

This is Lucky perched in the tree above our heads seconds after flying out of my hand.

We eventually all went away, and got on with other things in our day. At one point Lucky disappeared from the branch he had been sitting on and we all thought “well that is that!”

Later in the day, as evening approached, we were sitting in the grass near the house next to the hummingbird feeders that Jajean and I had put up earlier that morning before Lucky appeared. Occasionally a hummer would come in, dart around and swish off into the woods.  Suddenly this little Hummingbird flew up to us. It looked at us, hovered near us, and went to the feeders. Then it flew right to me and hovered in front of my face for a few seconds, swaying back and forth.  It was about a foot away from me. It then landed on a wire about two feet above my head and sat and preened for about 15 minutes. Then it was gone and darkness came and we went inside for the night.

The next morning as I went out for a walk, a hummingbird found me right away and accompanied me for about half an hour as I walked back and forth between the garden barn and house.  It was intensely interested in me. It would buzz my head, and perch near where I would stop and rest. Everytime I was outside that day the bird showed up. We looked at each other a lot that whole day. 

Jay, moments before Lucky makes his move

Note: This behavior with one hummingbird went on for several weeks, and even the rest of that summer.  We ended up with five resident hummingbirds and although they acted like hummingbirds, aggressive, somewhat intolerant of my presence, one was different. One seemed to seek me out, seemed to follow me everywhere.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Male Ruby-throat visits feeder at Protection Farm

Archilochus colubris

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is thought to be the only species of hummingbird that breeds in eastern North America, east of the Mississippi River.  Rufus and about 8 other species have been banded in the southeast. They are tiny, weigh less than an ounce.  They eat nectar and insects. For the most part these birds are solitary although several can share the same territory. Males have brilliant ruby throat patches and females, which are slightly larger have either a slight white patch or none at all.  The nest is tiny, made by the female and is constructed of bud scales, lichen and spiders silk. It is often lined with dandelion, thistle, or milkweed down.  The eggs are pea-sized. Incubation is between 12-16 days. Nests may be occupied for several seasons, with an annual repair. It is thought that the same birds return to the same nests each year. 

The vocalization of the Ruby-throat consists of rapid, high pitched squeaky chirps, chortles, and rattles.  The vocals are mainly used to aggressively warn other hummingbirds that they are too near but the sounds are used to communicate with other animals including humans if they are intruding. Ruby-throats at Protection farm have been observed perching near feeders and often loudly swooping in to defend from bees, Hummingbird moths) and butterflies.  The species winters in Central America including southern Mexico and south to Costa Rica. During its twice yearly migrations it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, non stop.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

- Beats its wings on average between 50-75 times a second and can go as high as 200.

- It’s extremely short legs prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. Nevertheless, it scratches its head and neck by raising its foot up and over its wing.

- It does not show a strong preference for any particular color of feeder. Instead, it prefers specific feeder locations.

- Size: 7-9 cm (3-4 in)

- Wingspan: 8-11 cm (3-4 in)

- Weight: 2-6 g (0.07-0.21 ounces)

- Back iridescent green.

- Hovers at flowers and is particularly attracted to red flowers.

- Male with brilliant iridescent red throat.

Late Summer Photos

Good Catch-Immature Male Yellow-throat

Native Swamp Milkweed

Great Blue Heron Cruising Above Protection Farm

Praying Mantis- We had hundreds of them this summer!

Full September Sugar Moon 2010

A few photos from Protection Farm in the last few weeks of Summer, from late August.