SCOTT SHALAWAY West Virginia's hummingbird lady

Gerry Tuning began feeding hummingbirds more than 20 years ago at her homestead near Elkins, West Virginia. Her persistence paid off and serves as an example to anyone who longs for "clouds of hummingbirds."
I first heard of Gerry last summer -- a lady near Elkins who had "hundreds" of hummers in her backyard. When Gerry e-mailed me a few weeks ago to invite me to visit while Alabama-based master banders Bob and Martha Sargent put on a hummingbird banding workshop, I couldn't resist.
Curious neighbors
When I pulled into Gerry's driveway, about a dozen people milled around the front yard. The group included a banding trainee from New York, experienced banders from Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and two curious young neighbors.
The focus of everyone's attention were the scores of hummingbirds darting back and forth across the yard and the traps set to catch them. Fine black nets surrounded two nectar feeders suspended on a pole to form a mist net corral. The hummers entered from an open side, and the closest "wranglers" followed the birds into the enclosure and caught the birds by hand as they flew into a corner of the netting.
On the deck, a set of remote-controlled traps that looked like large bird cages also contained nectar-filled feeders. Whenever two or three hummers entered a cage, someone pushed a button, the door dropped, and the birds were trapped.
When I expressed amazement at the number of hummers I was seeing, Gerry said, "You should have been here yesterday." Spoken like a true birder.
But Bob's data supported her statement. From July 28 through July 31, they banded more than 400 hummers! (I arrived on the 31st.) Bob, a retired electrician, was sure most of these birds were early migrants from Canada and other points north.
Weighed, measured and banded
Unbanded hummingbirds were placed in soft mesh bags and taken to one of two banding tables where the Sargents supervised the proceedings. Each bird was weighed, its wings, tail, and bill measured, and its body fat estimated. Then the birds were banded, a spot of water soluble paint applied to their heads, and released. The paint allows the wranglers to recognize birds that had already been banded, so they could be released immediately.
The Sargents' status as hummingbird gurus is unmatched and well deserved. They began banding hummers back in 1988, when Bob says there were only 28 other banders in the country. Today there are about 100 hummer banders, and many were trained by the Sargents, who in those 15 years have banded more than 26,000 hummingbirds. Their contribution to ornithology's understanding of hummingbird biology is immeasurable. Their dedication and willingness to travel wherever hummers are to band birds and train others is unmatched. And their enthusiasm is contagious.
Shortly after I arrived, Bob motioned to me and said, "Scott, you've got to hear this!"
He raised his fist, which held a banded hummer that weighed less than a nickel, up to my ear. I could easily hear what sounded like a small electric motor! It was the hummer's resting heart -- 250 beats per minute. I was as stunned as the two neighbor girls who had just heard the same thing. Nikki Koenig and Megan Phares, both 11, thought it was "awesome," and I had to agree.
Tip to use
Now here's a tip everyone can use. Based on Bob's vast experience banding ruby-throated hummingbirds throughout the east, he offers a simple formula for estimating the number of hummers that visit your backyard. "Take the largest number of birds you can count at your feeders at any one moment and multiply by five. This is a good estimate of the total number of hummers that visit your yard.," he says. So, if the most you can count at your feeders is eight hummers, for example, approximately 40 are using your backyard.
To support the Sargents' work and to receive a quarterly newsletter that summarizes their banding activities and includes tips for attracting and feeding hummers and other birds, join The Hummer/Bird Study Group (www.hummingbirdsplus.org) by sending a check for $15 to P.O. Box 250, Clay, Ala., 35048.
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