Tag Archives: natural history

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds in Your Backyard

News, , ,
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds beautiful colors and specialized adaptations make it a true gem. They are a very small bird, weighing less than a nickel! They have long wings and a long, thin, pointed beak. Females have a mostly white underside and are green on top. While the males have a bright red throat, and green crown with black mask. Its red throat may appear black if the lighting isn’t just right.
These hummingbirds are common in old fields, forest edges, and backyards. They are the only hummingbird in the Eastern United States. They spend the winter in Southern Florida or Central America and usually arrive back to Western New York in early to mid-May.
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are primarily nectar feeders, but they also eat a variety of small insects and spiders. They will even pluck insects from spider webs or sapsucker’s sap wells. Their long thin beak allows them to sip nectar that many insects are unable to. These hummingbirds prefer red and orange tubular flowers, but will also occasionally visit purple flowers. Bee balm and cardinal flower are some of their favorites, but they also enjoy nectar from trumpet creeper, jewelweed and columbine.
If you would like to feed hummingbirds at home, you can make your own sugar water mixture. You can add one-quarter cup of sugar per cup of water and heat it in a pot until it dissolves. Make sure your solution cools before adding it to your feeder. Nectar feeders should be cleaned and filled regularly, especially when temperatures are high (its recommended 2-3 times per week). Water moats hung above the feeder keep the ants away. Make sure you only fill the ant guard with water as birds will also drink out of it.
Ruby-throated hummingbird wings are a blur because they beat their wings more than 50 times per second. They flap their wings in a figure 8 motion which makes them very efficient and maneuverable fliers that are able to hover. They have very tiny legs to make them more aerodynamic, but they sacrifice their ability to walk as a result.
Females will build a nest usually positioned right on top of a slender, downward-sloping branch. The nest is composed of thistle down, plant fibers and spider silk. The outer surfaces of this two-inch nest are camouflaged with lichen. Spider silk makes the nest flexible and allows it to stretch as the young grow.

 

Attract Orioles with Oranges

News, ,

Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) are an average sized songbird with a thick neck and long legs. Males are a brilliant orange and black with a white wingbar. They won’t get their bright colors until their second year. Females color is variable with a brownish to yellowish head and back and yellow tail. They have a long sharp pointed beak like other members of the blackbird family. Each Spring, Baltimore Orioles migrate north from Central America. They usually return to Western NY around the end of April and early May. Baltimore Orioles enjoy ripe fruit, nectar and insects. They also eat many pest species of insects such as tent caterpillars. Some people leave out orange slices or grape jelly to attract them to their backyard during their migration. They are common in open woodlands, forest edges, and along riverbanks. They build a remarkable hanging nest using the fibrous outer bark of plants in the milkweed family, grasses and grapevines. They frequently nest in maple and cottonwood trees. Their nest placement is generally high in a tree. Listen for the Baltimore Orioles Whistling flute-like song.

Created by Mike Adriaansen