SCOTT SHALAWAY Readers provide hummer update

Last week I mentioned that, after a slow start, the hummingbirds in my backyard were having a good year. I hadn't see more than a few until mid-July, but since then my feeders have been abuzz with activity. Hummers visit the feeders all day long, but their activity peaks at dawn and near dusk. That makes sense because after a long night their energy reserves are low, and late in the day they fill their guts to have enough fuel to make it through the night.
Hummingbirds generate mail whenever I mention them, so when I asked for readers to report their summer hummer numbers, I expected an immediate response. I wasn't disappointed.
Half of 50 some e-mails and letters reported the same results I observed -- a slow start followed by a flurry of activity after mid July. This coincides with the time that young hummers fledge from the nest. Most of the hummers we see in July are just-fledged young.
The other half of my correspondents reported seeing few, if any, hummers this year. In fact, some expressed concern over what had happened to their favorite birds.
What was expected
These results are what I expected. It's the same each year. Populations of hummingbirds (and of most organisms, for that matter) fluctuate from year to year. I've had years where I felt lucky to see one bird a day. And other years, like this one, populations have boomed. In between the extremes I've seen hummer numbers vary between the highs and lows.
Such population fluctuations are normal. From banding studies, we know that hummers usually return to the same place year after year. If something happens to "your" birds in migration, on the wintering grounds, or during the nesting season, you will notice a difference.
If "your" hummers encountered a hurricane last fall, they may have all died, and you see few if any hummers this year. Maybe a freak extended cold spell hit their wintering grounds. Again you would observe the effects the next spring. And if cold, wet conditions persist into early summer, the survival of young would be reduced. All of these factors can affect hummer numbers from year to year.
On the other hand, if ideal conditions persist for an entire year, hummer numbers can seem to explode. The same logic can be extended to virtually all backyard wildlife. Some years are great, some are poor, and most are average. Biologists expect such variation. In fact, fluctuating populations are normal, not the exception. So don't panic if that's what you observe.
Never seen a hummer
But then there are people who have never seen a hummer at a feeder, or at best see just a few each summer. In those cases, habitat is likely responsible. Hummingbirds live on wooded edges near water. Often they nest on a horizontal branch above a waterway. If you live in a well manicured, open development far from water, you shouldn't expect hummingbirds.
But you can change that by improving your backyard habitat. Plant a few nectar-bearing trees such as red buckeye, flowering crabs, and rose of Sharon. Establish a hummingbird garden -- cardinal flower in damp spots, trumpetcreeper and trumpet honeysuckle in full sun, and wide beds of scarlet bee balm, sage, jewelweed, and columbines. Add a bird bath with a mister, and in just a few years you'll have an irresistible hummingbird magnet.
Finally, let me address the two most common hummingbird questions I hear this time of year:
Take nectar feeders down after a week to 10 days without seeing a hummer. For me, that's usually mid-October. A hummingbird's instinct to migrate is too strong to be swayed by the promise of food. When it's time to go, they know. Hummingbirds migrate in response to shorter days, not food. Shorter days warn hummers that foul weather lies ahead.
And no, hummingbirds do not hitchhike south on the backs of larger birds. Hummers fly under their own power. Some hopscotch from the Florida Keys to Cuba and then on to Mexico. Others fly 500-miles nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Not bad for a bird that weighs less than a nickel!
sshalaway @aol.com