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Sunday, August 22, 2010
If you’ve never fed Ruby-throated Hummingbirds before, you must, must, must get a feeder out there today! We still have a wide selection to choose from at our Wild Birds Unlimited East Lansing, MI store.Right now the birds are hungry! It’s fascinating to watch hummingbirds bulk up for the journey south. They are feasting on aphids, spiders and nectar especially. They need to increase their weight to about 2 pennies or about 1/5 of an ounce to survive the long flight.
I am watching my slim little birds turn roly poly right before my eyes! You can notice the extra fat along the back, belly, and throat. A hummingbird gains 25 – 40% extra body-weight to have enough fuel to travel 1,400 miles – with no wind of any kind. A headwind of only 10 miles per hour will cut that distance down to 600 miles and more than 20 mph will push them backward. However the ruby-throated hummingbird does take advantage of tail winds constantly.Southbound ruby-throats rebuild their reserves in the early morning, travel about 23 miles during the day and forage again in the late afternoon to keep up their body weight.
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The first to go south are the older males, then the females and finally the first year hummingbirds. Newly hatched hummers have no memory of migration, just an urge to eat and move south. This urge is inborn so there is no reason to take your feeders down to force birds to migrate. That just forces them to look for food in another area until they feel fat enough and may not bother to return to your yard next year.Feeders can have a real positive impact on the number of birds that survive so please keep them clean and fresh. I recommend you continue to maintain feeders until you haven’t seen a hummingbird for two weeks; depending on where you live in Michigan that can be anywhere from the end of September to mid-October.
Enjoy!
For much more information on hummingbirds visit: http://www.hummingbirds.net/
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