June 1, 2015 by Born To Organize

Fostering a Hummingbird

It’s been an amazing 24 hours. Our neighbor came to the door last night with news that she’d found a baby hummingbird. She spotted the hummingbird on the sidewalk while walking her dog. They brought the bird home but were unable to contact a rescue group on a Sunday night.

Together we went back to the spot a few blocks over hoping to spot the mama and the nest. Alas, no luck.

So…I brought him home. My boys were pretty excited to have a fledgling hummingbird in our midst and a social one at that. They took turns keeping him warm till I figured out a temporary nest.

My oldest son keeps watch for a while

In the end I used a small Sake cup, which is about the size of the nest mama bird would build. I lined the bottom with cotton, then shredded mohair fibers and made a fluffy nest for the night.

Cozy in his homemade nest

Mike made a batch of sugar-water using the formula we put in our feeders: Four parts clear water, and one part sugar. I offered our tiny guest drops of nectar from the tip of my finger. His tiny tongue lapping sugar-water from my finger was almost imperceptible.

He was mellow and trusting and once resting on my thumb, he didn’t want to let go. I eventually transferred him to his surrogate nest and after one last check, turned out the lights.

I should also mention that I live with three cats so finding a safe spot was critical. We have a laundry room off of the guest washroom, so I set him up in there. We used the ‘clean room’ method of walking into one room and closing the door, then going into the inner room and closing that door. Even then, I covered the nest with a ventilated laundry basket *and* a towel.

I tossed and turned in bed this morning starting at 4:00 am. Eventually I gave in and got up to take a look. There he was, cozy in his nest and looking content. I fed him three more times before leaving to take the boys to school. My friend, Laura offered the great tip of feeding him from the end of a drinking straw. In between feedings I did some research online. I checked in with my friend Ellen who volunteers at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. I’ve been listening to Ellen’s stories for months during our shared Pilates class. I know her to be caring and knowledgeable.

Hummingbirds are not easily rehabilitated and require constant care. They must eat every twenty to thirty minutes from dawn till dusk. Can you imagine? I had two clients today, on different sides of town in addition to carpooling three teenagers to school. It would not be possible to give him the care he needed.

Still waiting for his tail feathers to grow in

After checking in with my client and dropping the teens at school, I drove to the Silicon Valley Wildlife Center one town over. While it was a relief to know the hummingbird was in excellent hands, I was melancholy too. I connected with the tiny creature and felt just a twinge of sadness when I let him go.

The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. Can you see the mature hummingbird flying toward me in the lower right corner?

Here’s a one-minute video from this morning. I’m feeding him with the tip of a coffee stir straw.

Good to know:

World of Hummingbirds: Hummingbird First Aid

Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley: A Rehabilitation, Release & Educational Facility

How to tell a male from a female? It’s hard to know

March 31, 2014 by Born To Organize

Beginning Birding: Hummingbird Class

Don’t you just love learning new things? It’s especially fun when it’s something your passionate about. We took a hummingbird class at the spectacular Los Gatos Birdwatcher. This locally owned store describes themselves as

the nature lover’s general store, specializing in everything to do with bird feeding and bird watching.

If you’re local, or planning a visit to the area, it’s a must see. The owners and staff are wonderful people, knowledgeable and helpful in every way. Their current dog in residence is a chocolate Cocker spaniel named Marley.

Lisa Myers of Let’s Go Birding presented the hummingbird class, then lead us on a two-hour field trip Saturday morning. We had so much fun. Lisa leads a variety of birding trips throughout the bay area. She’s incredibly knowledgeable with a wonderful sense of humour.

Lisa Myers and Freddy Howell

We’ve been feeding hummingbirds in our garden for as long as I can remember. We have several feeders and hummingbird-attracting plants.

Hummingbirds in our garden

I’ve read a number of books and articles over the years, but still found much to learn. It’s also nice spending time with a group of like-minded folks.

Here are a few things I didn’t know:

There are over 300 species of hummingbirds, but only six or seven in the Bay Area.
Hummingbirds are native to the Americas. They’re not found anywhere else in the world.
Yellow attracts bees, red attracts hummingbirds. Therefore a hummingbird feeder with yellow plastic ‘flowers’ sends out mixed messages.
Anna’s Hummingbirds, native to our area, live here year round. There is no need to remove feeders during the colder months.
Hummingbirds are the only bird that can hover in the air, as well as fly forward and backward.

Anna’s Hummingbird

It was fascinating learning about torpor. Hummingbirds enter this state of hibernation nightly to conserve energy. I found the following explanation at ScienceBlogs™

Even sleeping hummingbirds have huge metabolic demands that must be met simply to survive the night when they cannot forage. To meet this energetic challenge, hummingbirds save enough energy to survive cold nights by lowering their internal thermostat at night, becoming hypothermic. This reduced physiological state is an evolutionary adaptation that is referred to as torpor.

Torpor is a type of deep sleep where an animal lowers its metabolic rate by as much as 95%. By doing so, a torpid hummingbird consumes up to 50 times less energy when torpid than when awake. This lowered metabolic rate also causes a cooled body temperature. A hummingbird’s night time body temperature is maintained at a hypothermic threshold that is barely sufficient to maintain life. This threshold is known as their set point and it is far below the normal daytime body temperature of 104°F or 40°C recorded for other similarly sized birds.

Isn’t that interesting?

Please be sure to check back tomorrow for news and pictures from our two-hour field trip to the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.

Fabulous resources in Silicon Valley:

Lisa Myers’ Let’s Go Birding leads tours and workshops.
Los Gatos Birdwatcher, for all things birding.
Wild Bird Care Center Quite often, wild birds are ‘over rescued’. This site has many great tips for determining if and when to intervene.

October 24, 2013 by Born To Organize

Hummingbird Migration: Garden Traffic in Decline

I’m going to make an extra effort this year to track the hummingbirds at our feeders. Just one day after musing about their migration habits last week, I read Joan Morris’ column in the San Jose Mercury News. One of her readers sent in the following:

Dear Joan: I’ve been feeding the hummingbirds from my patio in the same Palo Alto location for more than 10 years now.

Ms. McClellan of Saratoga, who wrote regarding how often her feeders need refilling presently, is probably experiencing what it is like to feed the migratory hummers that pass through our area each fall and spring.

Her Saratoga neighbors probably need to refill their feeders as often during these several weeks while the birds fatten up before moving south.

It will quiet down any day or week now as winter shows more and the migrating birds finish their trips south. Just a few hummingbirds stay over winter locally, and nectar needs will drop.

Then in the spring there will be another, shorter surge of feeding needed on the hummingbirds’ migration north.

Gavin Tanner

I have noticed the increased consumption of nectar at the feeders (we have three). It’s really cooled down in the last few days, finally feeling like fall. My California Girl uniform of a thin t-shirt and cotton sweater are no longer enough to keep me warm.

I found an informative website called World of Hummingbirds. They have a form on their site for reporting migration habits in your area. They ask you to wait two full weeks till the last sighting, before submitting details. I’m looking forward to taking part in this one small way. They use the collected data to: “help researchers around the world better understand and protect hummingbirds.” I’m all for that.

Magnolia feeder: All business

Beautiful red throat

Back garden feeder

A rare event at our feeders. They’re usually too territorial to share all at once.

Kitchen window feeder

Halloween Countdown:

Lindy Lu loves pumpkins

October 16, 2013 by Born To Organize

Hummingbird Songs

Hummer in the orange tree

It’s hard to beat this fall weather. Cool mornings warm up to the low 80s F ( C). Autumn leaves drop slowly around here, but drop they do. The neighborhood maples have a dusting of gold along the top. I’ve seen a few of their leaves carried down by the breeze.

Hummingbirds migrate south this time of year, though it’s never clear to me if the hummers in our neighborhood stay put, or if our birds move even further south, while their northern counterparts fly here. It’s a mystery, but a pleasant one. I don’t feel compelled to solve it.

We keep our feeders going year round and I’ve heard that they help the migratory birds passing through. Our Salvia remains in full bloom and should flower for another month. The hummers are big fans. We like to do our part to help our tiny visitors on their way.

This gorgeous fellow rested in our orange tree this afternoon. He seemed happy with the dappled sun on his back. I wonder if hummingbirds can actually drink from an orange or if the skin is too thick?

Sure, I can Google all these answers but for now I’m just writing from the heart. These little hummers make my heart sing.

Looking up

Halloween Countdown:

Birthday pumpkin from a dear friend

February 12, 2013 by Born To Organize

Waiting for the Birds

Tick-tock…the waiting game

I’m tracking my various nesting materials in the garden, but no discernible visitors just yet. At first I was hoping to spot a bird swooping by. Now I’d be happy with any sign that they’ve found the super-soft bits of wool, laundry lint and yarn. I hung the wreath in the Magnolia tree outside my home office window. The bag of laundry lint is hanging from the Pittosporum out back. I even added a third, large plastic bag, weighted down with a garden table for the squirrels. It’s directly in their path. No takers.

Nesting Wreath

After our last big storm I found remnants of what may have been a nest from last year under the pine tree. The bits of blue lint were unmistakably the color of our flannel sheets. So…I remain hopeful.

On the subject of birds, I signed up for tweets (I crack myself up) about Phoebe the Allen Hummingbird. I learned today that she’s already laid the first egg of her next brood. These hummers generally lay a pair at a time, the size of tiny breath mints.

Phoebe’s nest. First egg, February 10th

Here is the link to the live webcam in case you missed it. Warning: watching the nest all day is habit-forming. That said, it’s a habit worth forming. Enjoy!

January 11, 2013 by Born To Organize

Smile! You’re On Gardening Nirvana

Some days you get lucky. Today was one of them.

Like the felines in the house, many of the garden visitors put on a show till the camera comes out. Then they’re off, lickety-split. Today I was able to snap some cuties.

First up, this dark brown squirrel. Most of our native squirrels are grey with a white belly. This little fellow is dark brown with an amber belly, pressed up against the fence. He’s been busy stashing peanuts in a corner behind a rock. They nab the peanuts from our neighbor’s yard, then head over our fence to either bury them or eat them.

A dark squirrel with amber belly hugs the fence

Stashing his peanuts behind the Daphne

Peanut Wasteland

A more typical gray squirrel passed through with a peanut in his mouth. Isn’t he adorable? He jumped into one of the planters when he saw me, then ran back to the lawn to squirrel away his peanut.

Grey Squirrel with Peanut
I wanna hold your hand!

We enjoy frequent visitors at our hummingbird feeders. Today I ‘searched’ the orange tree with my camera lens to see if I might spot a nest. In retrospect, given the number of squirrels and rats that visit each day, the tree is probably far to active for nesting. I followed the bird’s flight with my camera lens and captured a few shots of a hummingbird new to our area. I’ve never seen one like it. My research says there are a dozen hummingbird species in California, but none of them resemble this little one. Take a look at this species list and let me know what you think.

It’s been bitter cold for several days, down to freezing most nights. I’m keeping the feeders topped off, especially after learning that the non-migratory birds are nesting from now until May or June. I wonder where they go to stay warm?

I originally planned to hang bags of laundry lint for nesting material in the spring. Since learning that hummingbirds are nesting now through May, I plan to hang lint tomorrow.

In my fantasy world, I have an invisible cloak like Harry Potter. I would spy on all the wildlife up close without fear of detection. Would you like to join me?

October 27, 2012 by Born To Organize

Hummingbird Quandry

We’ve often wondered if the hummingbirds at our feeder are the same year round. It lead me to do a bit of research on the migratory habits of the hummers native to our area. Last week I saw this charmer at our feeder, unruffled by the cooler temps and the rain. Was this one passing through, staying for the winter or about to leave town?

Hummingbird October 22nd

According to World of Hummingbirds, Allen Hummingbirds like to winter in Northern California but spend the summer in Mexico. So who’s been visiting in the summer? I used to think we had Ruby-Throated Hummers at the feeders, with the flashy iridescent red chest, but I’ve since learned they migrate on the east coast of North America and Canada. Then there are Anna Hummingbirds. Anna’s are one of the few year-round residents of California. They can handle temperature extremes, so no need to winter in Mexico.

Following are the hummers we’ve seen in our garden this year. Descriptions from World of Hummingbirds are at the end. Who do you think we have visiting our feeders?

Hummingbird February 25th

Hummingbird August 4th

Hummingbird August 24th

Hummingbird October 22nd

North American Hummingbirds

Halloween Countdown

Lying pumpkin

August 4, 2012 by Born To Organize

Stairway to Heaven: The Ants Go Marching One by One

Ants love sugar. They’re also incredibly resourceful. The mystery, however, is how they knew that a single Cosmo grew to just the right height this week, allowing them direct access to the heavenly meal above, out of reach just the day before.

Cosmo Meets Hummingbird Feeder

My husband fills the hummingbird feeders every few days, while I tend to the flowers below. The planter has assorted annuals, each just a few inches tall. The hummingbird feeder hangs a reasonable distance overhead. A self-seeded Cosmo popped up a few weeks ago, and quickly grew parallel to the feeder. Within a day, the ants marched up the side of the flower-pot, on to the leaves, up the stem and across the bottom of the feeder. Victory! Well…if you’re an ant.

Cosmo Stem: Bridge to Sugary Heaven

What else could I do but grab the camera and start taking pictures?

Have you ever tried photographing moving ants? It’s not easy. My patience, however paid off. As I stood to the side of the feeder, trying to get a good shot of the single Cosmo, I heard the hummers chit-chatting nearby. Pressing myself against the side of the house I stood stock still, camera poised. My shutter finger at the ready, a ruby-throated beauty came into view. What a joyful few seconds as I clicked away, sparkling red feathers catching the sunlight as the hummer sipped a meal.