The Nature of Things

This is one of the two most exciting times of the year for birders. The first, of course, is spring migration when wave after wave of bright and noisy songbird migrants pass through on their way north to their nesting grounds. The second is fall migration which is a much quieter affair. Fall migrants do not bear the bright colorful feathers that they wore in spring when they were ready to attract mates and get on with nesting. Moreover, they are much more silent for the same reason. They are not looking for a mate; they are looking to safely get to their winter homes. They are entirely focused on that goal. The result is that, unless one is out specifically looking for the birds, thousands can easily pass through unnoticed in a matter of days. Most of the fall migrants pass through relatively quickly. They don't tarry with us for long. Hummingbirds are something of an exception to this rule. They may stick around for days or even weeks while they fatten up to ready themselves for t...

The first of the migrant male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds has arrived in my backyard. And that means that, for the moment, I have two species of hummingbirds in my yard. The female Rufous that wintered in the yard is still here today, but probably will be leaving soon. If the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have arrived, can the Chimney Swifts be far behind?

My resident female Ruby-throated Hummingbird has arrived. She blew into town earlier this week and soon she'll be settling down to housekeeping. The female Ruby-throat is a single parent. Once she mates with the male, he moves on, on the lookout for other females with which to mate. He likes to spread his genes around. The female, meanwhile, settles down to build her tiny, walnut shell-sized nest and lays two little white eggs the size of Tic-Tacs in it. She incubates the eggs and then raises the chicks all on her own. She is one independent lady! I am very happy to welcome her back to my yard this week.

PBS' Nature series on Sunday night had a feature on the amazing hummingbirds. They are the smallest warm-blooded creatures on the face of the earth and they live only in the Americas. There are more than 300 species of the little critters. Their hearts beat more than 600 times a minute under normal hummingbird activity. At night, when they enter a state called torpor in order to save energy, their heart rate can drop as low as the 30s and their temperature can drop from about 110 degrees down to the 50s. Some species of these tiny creatures, such as the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, make a migratory flight of some 600 miles one way, twice a year. These are creatures for which the adjective "amazing" truly fits. I would even venture to use that greatly overused adjective (which I normally abhor) "awesome". I didn't get to see Nature on Sunday, but I DVR'd the show and watched it during lunch today. Of all the remarkable parts of the story, one parti...