My first hummingbird of the year

Hummingbirds are fascinating creatures; you can watch them for hours as they try to dominate your feeders. They seem fearless to everything except each other. You can welcome these hungry travelers by putting out some food for them.  If you maintain your feeders correctly you’ll provide an important source of food and hummers will return year after year to raise their families near your home. I have postponed vacations because the hummers need me to change their food twice a day (four feeders with 2 cups of food in each). I was feeding at least 40 hummingbirds (how can you count them?) and their babies.

I saw my first hummingbird on Monday, April 13 and I told Marilyn and Beth Rachlin about it today. A few hours later Beth said they had put out a feeder and she saw a hummingbird at it.

Hummingbird food should be changed every 3-4 days so put out a little at first and change it often. You want to keep the mold from growing in the sugar. If you have hummingbirds and they are not eating your sugar water, there may be ants or mold in the water.

For the new arrivals who are really hungry and have traveled a long way I use ½ cup plain granulated sugar to 1 cup water; mix well. That’s pretty sugary. Use ¼ cup sugar to 1 cup water as the hummingbirds settle in. Don’t need red dye in the water. They will find your feeder. Use glass feeders if at all possible. Plastic is harder to clean and get mold out of.  Use only clear vinegar and water to clean your feeders (don’t use soap.  Use bleach to get out mold if you get any and then clean that out with vinegar and water thoroughly). 

Look on line for more information about hummingbirds. Some people boil their water first and then cool it down. In the summer I make pitchers of food at a time using the formula ¼ sugar to 1 water. I use a feeder that doesn’t allow the bees and wasps to feed.

On September 4, at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Andy Barrass, Department of Biology, Austin Peay State University, will present the Bat Recovery Program for Dunbar Cave. This program will be held at the APSU Sundquist Science center Complex D126 at 7:30 p.m.

Dr. Barrass will also host the October 2 program on the Mountain Top Removal Roadshow with Dave Cooper.This program is designed to educate the public about mountain top removal mining. The Mountaintop Removal Road Show includes a stunning 22-minute slide show about the impacts of mountaintop removal on coalfield residents, communities and the environment, and features traditional Appalachian mountain music and shocking aerial photos of decapitated Appalachian mountains.This program will start at 7:30 p.m.

The groups first annual potluck dinner will be held November 6 at Hilldale United Methodist in the Heritage Hall Room at the back of the church. 6:00 p.m.  The topic for the evening’s program will be Important Bird Areas and the Yucatan, presented by Scott Somershoe of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Sommershoe will give a brief update on the Important Bird Area (IBA) program status in Tennessee and share a recent trip to the Sian Ka’am Biosphere Reserve in the Yucatan peninsula.

“We are working on data collection important for the IBA program, i.e. wading bird surveys, eagle monitoring, etc. I will discuss status and results of statewide monitoring programs. I will also provide an introduction to the Watchable Wildlife Website that I am developing through TWRA. Finally, I will talk about a very recent trip to the Yucatan peninsula, specifically Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, to band birds for a research project.”

– Scott Sommershoe

On December 4, at 7:30 p.m., Richard Tippit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review the Corps’ Water Management in the Cumberland River basin.

Land Between the Lakes has a lot to offer, not the least of which a free roaming bison that, topping the scales at a ton (a very solid 2,000 pounds), leave no doubt as to who has the right of way on the roads in the prairie compound.

At up to 2000 pounds, adult bison can have the right of way ...

Discounting its paved road, the Elk and Bison Prairie is a step back in time to an age when these magnificent animals roamed free across the American landscape, the midwestern prairies. Though modern living and urban expansion has come perilously close to decimating native prairie landscape, many groups across the midwest are laboring intensively to save and/or restore these landscapes. It’s enviromentally sound and historically smart.

LBL has created a prairie landscape, encouraging the growth of native grasses and plants, many of which have healing properties. The have also restored two herds of native animals: the elegant elk and the bulging bison. Swift, sleek movement, and lumbering, occasionally thundering beats.

The Prairie visits ideally begins with a stop at the Golden Pond Visitor Center, where the film Restoring the Land for Tomorrow is screened. Little House on the Prairie’s Karen Grassle narrates.

Imagine a landscape 200 years ago when elk and bison numbered in the tens of thousands, leavings swathes of dusty earth in their wake as they migrated from one corner of the prairie to the other. Portions of interstate 24 was once a bison trail.

Native Americans hunted, and used controlled burns of the prairie grass to trigger new growth and new feeding areas for the bison while keeping forestlands at bay. Native Americans killed bison for food, and for furs, with a tradition of killing only what they would use. Early settlers and traders shifted the balance of the prairie and decimated the bison herds, hunting them almost to the point of extinction. As the bison moved, so did the natives who depended on them for survival. In the absence of grazing animals, the forests gradually returned.

In the past century and a half, woodlands came to dominate this region. It wasn’t until 1970 that biologists spotted new prairie growth at land Between the Lakes, and that is where the elk and bison now roam. Controlled burns keep the grassland renewed, and the current herds is hearty, healthy and growing. LBL’s prairie is “landscape in the early stages of renewal.”

Today we travel to the bison prairie, dropping our $5 per car admission into the box, grabbing the token it gives back. A short drive puts visitors at the gate where the token is deposited and a large gate swings slowly open. We are in. And we see … nothing. It’s not for a lack of looking. We are on the late side of midday, and as nature-oriented people we also know the prime time for viewing animals in the wild is early morning and late in the day, when animals emerge to feed and drink at the chosen water sources. Midday, in the heat of the sun, most will seek shelter in wooded, shaded areas. The high grasses are natural but inhibit viewing especially at midday.

Undaunted, we drive in a slow procession of the curious, looking from side to side, allowing our eyes to scan the landscape. Still nothing. Not an elk or bison in sight. Not snakes, rabbits, woodchucks, or even a lot of birds. Just as we were about to admit defeat hope sprang in the distance: a small herd of elk galloping across a meadow in the distance. Magnificent. Leaping through the grasses, up the hill … away from us. It was something.

A bit further, again, a line of cars, stopped. One grandmother poked herself up through the sunroof of the family SUV for a bird’s eye view of three adult elk and beyond, a baby barely toping the height of the spring grass. The elk stopped, and in a unique moment each of the three adults faced a different point of the compass. Surveying. On the “skittish” side, the elk were more apt to bound away from their human observers.

Bird’s eye view ...

Disappointed with our meager viewing, we were almost at the turn to exit the prairie when ahead of us traffic slowed. Stopped.

Suddenly the earth moved. Huge brown arched backs, those scraggly clumps of shredded fur, the lumbering movement of a beast who knows he has the right of way. One. Then another. And another. Meandering from the fields to the road, cows and calves, a bull or two. Muzzling the grasses, swishing their tails to ward off hundred of flies. The reddish-brown calves scurrying and scampering back and forth from grasslands back to nurse at their mothers udders.

We were captivated. We watched in awe as the beasts we’d seen before from a distance of hundreds of yards in another heavily fenced pen near LBL’s The Homeplace walked through the line of cars, alongside them, in touching distance. Not that you are supposed to touch them; they are, after all, wild.

Out came the cameras. Closer came the bison. They were in no hurry, but neither were their human observers. Close-up, we saw ravaging biting flies, hundreds of them swarming on the bison’s hides, and no amount of tail swishing could rid them of the biting pests.

The adult bison looked a bit ragged, winter fur hanging in matted clumps. The horns looking solid and formidable. And while I am sure that it is not wise (or advised by park officials) to get out of your vehicle and step into the herd, our herd of cars was definitely absorbed by the bison.

“Now I know we got our $5’s worth,” said one of my companions who, as a norm, is “not a country boy.” Nonetheless, this overpowering show of nature’s beasts in the wild captivated him, and the steady click click click of his camera was evidence that this was a moment to be remembered.

CO publisher Bill Larson sat at the wheel, camera in hand, staring eyeball to eyeball with one of the bison, who paused long enough to make us wonder if the bison was assessing our edibility. Would we be crunchy and good with … well, you get the idea.

By the time the herd drifted past — a long process — and we left the compound, we knew that it would likely not be our last visit to this amazing grassland.

Along the circuitous prairie roadway, there are information stops, places to pull over, step out and read a bit more about the landscape, the plants, and the restoration of a prairie and its inhabitants.

Visitor’s information defines what you can expect to see in what season, what kinds of grasses grow in this habitat, what birds one might expect to see, and how to react to encounters with the inhabitants.

You can find more information on the internet by logging in to www.lbl.org or by calling 1-800-LBL-7077 for specific directions. Plan on an hour to an hour and a half travel time, and bring a cooler with beverages and water, and a picnic lunch to enjoy at one of the many picnic and rest stops along the way. You might want to consider camping at LBL. See the website for more information.

Here are more BILL LARSON PHOTOS from the Elk and Bison Prairie at Land Between the Lakes.

Does it get any better than this?

Looking for a scenic bike trail, horse riding trail, or a walking trail? What once was a railroad bed running between Nashville and Clarksville was turned into a beautiful, fairly level and almost completely paved trail. It is perfect for biking, hiking, power walking or a leisurely stroll with the intent of observing nature’s best offerings. You can find it all on the Cumberland River Bicentennial Trail.

Local enthusiasts, Kitty Madden (l) and Beverly Fisher (above) invited me along for a early spring flower identification walk. We walked approximately four miles, though the trail runs at least 7.5 miles. With flower guidebook in hand, Beverly Fisher identified many of the spring flowers that we spotted along the trail.

The Cumberland River below gives a home to many species of birds, from native bluebirds and bright yellow goldfinches to ruby hued cardinals, several species of woodpeckers, bluejays and owls, and shore/marsh birds including heron and cranes.

It is a bit difficult to see the Chapmansboro Road turnoff so you may want to note that when I map quest searched it, it said that it is 21.5 miles from the start of Ashland City Road (Hwy 12) to Chapmansboro turnoff. (maps at end of this article)

For more information, visit http://cumberlandrivertrail.org/

Photos by Debbie Boen

Bluebirds raise two or three broods, beginning in May. After each brood has left the nest, clean out the old nest; it’s also okay to lift the top of the house and take a peek at the baby birds or the nest filled with eggs. Just don’t put any food directy into the bluebird house.

Bluebirds are perfectly capable of caring for themselves and their babies. After taking your weekly peek at the little ones, be sure to secure the lid. You need not be afraid of frightening away the parent birds; they will return.

Remember:

• Bluebirds will raise at least two broods
• Clean the old next our between broods
• It okay to raise the roof 9lid) and peek at the chicks
• Put your blue houses up now (don’t place then trees; instead use a sturdy pole). We attached ours to our deck and have already attracted new tenants

It’s also the season for hummingbirds, and yes, they’ve arrived in Clarksville. They are wonderfully entertaining guests at our feeders, where they will continue visiting through the summer. Hummingbirds usually stay in our area through October and we take pleasure in caring for our “hummers.”

Hummers, radiant jewels in the birding kingdom, are the smallest and most colorful of our feathered friends.They’ll be hovering in our yard, famished from their long flight from Mexico, searching for a regular source of food. Hummingbirds beat their wings 80 times a second as the hover at a flower or feeder; it is a constant expenditure of energy.

Preparing a hummer “lunch,” a sugary nectar, is easy.

• Clean you feeder twice a week, discarding any leftover solution (do this more often if you have many hummers). I use a baby bottle brush to clean my feeders.
• Mix four parts water to one part sugar (dissolve thoroughly) and put it in the feeder.
• During mating season birds may seem absent from the feeder; don’t worry. they will return.

Your commitment to these beautiful, colorful birds can enrich your life. They are arriving now and I’ve just seen the first of them in my yard. My feeder is already in position to serve as a fountain of energy for these exquisite, radiant birds.

The area shaded in dark blue is where they fly in winter; green is summer, which is our case means an early spring arrival time. We love seeing these guys and we have put their feeders along our porch. By late summer we’ll be walking outside to what sounds like a bee-hive of activity with 40 to 50 of these delicate little birds at our feeders. They are ferocious feeders and they fight each other for food.

Here are the directions I follow to attract so many hummingbirds:

• Change the feeder food, whether they’ve eaten it or not, every 3-4 days. Why? Mold. It kills hummers. I start my season with one feeder with one cup of sugar water. No use filling it to the top if they’re not drinking it down yet and I will change it every 3-4 days.
• Use glass feeders. Why? Mold. Mold comes off glass.
• Only use vinegar and water to clean feeders. Rinse well. Don’t use any soap product.
• Have a brush that will clean the inside of the feeder. You want to get any mold out.
• For food use regular white sugar and water. To every 1 cup of water use 1/3 to ½ cup of sugar. Stir until dissolved. [I prefer to use ½ cup to give them an extra boost when they are just getting back or getting ready to leave again. Some people boil their water first and then cool, or let the water settle for 24 hours before using. That’s probably a good idea.]
• I make sugar water in a big container and refrigerate for easy refilling during the summer. I try to refill at night so it’s ready and warmed up by the early morning.
• Stay home all summer. If you plan on leaving and you’ve got 40+ birds depending on you, get someone to refill your feeders or alert your neighbors that they may have some extra visitors. During the summer I refill my 2-cup feeders up to twice a day. I have four feeders.

A bee keeper lives down the road from me; his bees were swarming my feeders, attracted to the sugar/nectar. Now I like bees as well as hummers, so I spent extra money on ”humdinger” feeders like the one pictured at the beginning of this article; the bees cannot reach the food through the feeding holes, but hummers can. This also keeps away hornets and wasps that become very active in late summer. This feeder is plastic but pops open for easy cleaning. I couldn’t find any glass ones.  I found my humdingers on the internet.

Managing invading ants

My humdinger has a little water cavity in the center which will catch ants climbing down the feeder, but even that is not a perfect system for keeping ants away. My husband copied an idea from a friend:

Cutting off the bottom of a small plastic water bottle, he used water proof screws, nuts and bolts to fashion this ant guard which absolutely works. No ants as long as you keep some water in it.

When friends come over we all insist on sitting on our porch to watch the hummingbirds. They zoom by us with incredible speed but not one has run into us yet. I can understand why some get killed flying into people’s windows because they are usually being chased by other hummers and don’t have time to assess the danger.

Besides the buzzing sound of their flight, they have neat songs. The baby hummingbirds usually flock to one feeder. We may have two batches of babies a season.

Having flowers in our garden is the ideal; they attract hummingbirds. Hummers are also considered “pest controllers”, they feed small insects to their young.

Steve Irwin died doing what he loved, filming a documentary about Stingrays with the intent of “Demystifying them”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said today.

It is understood he was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest and reportedly into his heart .

He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary when the tragedy occurred…

Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. – The Australian News.com

It’s always sad when the world loses a unique personality, Steve Irwin certainly qualified.

STEVE Irwin, one of Australia’s most well-known and well-loved figures, has died at the age of 44.

It is understood Irwin, a passionate conservationist and wildlife advocate, was killed when a stingray barb went through his chest.

Irwin spent every day working with all manner of dangerous creatures – giant crocodiles, poisonous snakes, komodo dragons – but it was a less obvious hazard that claimed his life.

Irwin had taken calculated risks with all sorts of wildlife for decades, relying on his knowledge of animal behaviour and personal experience to beat the odds.

For someone who spent so much time around killer animals, Irwin seemed to leave a charmed life.

So his demise was all the more shocking because it apparently involved a stingray, an animal regarded as dangerous but not as a killer.

It is understood that Irwin was swimming off the Low Isles off Port Douglas filming a documentary, something he had done on countless occasions.

Irwin, so careful around danger, was taken unawares when the stingray he was filming apparently struck out with its tail, the venomous barbs fatally embedding in his chest.

The death brought to an end a career that began with his father’s Sunshine Coast theme park and developed into an international empire in which Irwin was a globally recognised brand.

Born at Essendon in Melbourne, it was a move to Queensland with his parents while a child that shaped Irwin’s life, culminating in his fame as Australia’s ‘Crocodile Hunter’.

Although his father Bob was officially a plumber, and his mother Lynn a maternity nurse, the family’s consuming passion was rescuing and rehabilitating local wildlife.

In 1970 the hobby became a full time operation when the Irwins opened the Beerwah Reptile Park.

Irwin recalled how, even with the advent of a formal facility, the family home was itself a mini zoo and wildlife hospital, with makeshift marsupial “pouches” slung over the backs of chairs and snakes stashed everywhere.

The young Irwin came to share his parents’ obsession with wild creatures, and he soon displayed an uncanny rapport with them, able to sense their moods and preferences intuitively.

This ability to second-guess animal behavior, coupled with his enthusiastic admiration of Bob Irwin’s real life “action hero” escapades with crocs and venomous snakes, led the younger Irwin to try his own hand capturing the risky reptiles.

Though initially alarmed, his father began tutoring him in crocodile capture.

As a young man Steve put these skills to work in the rogue crocodile relocation project run by the Queensland government.

Although he eventually claimed the title The Crocodile Hunter, Irwin’s methods differed drastically to those of earlier hunters.

Rather than ending up as table fare and handbags, the crocs bagged by Irwin were later released, unharmed, in a new home deeper in the wild – or at the Irwins’ reptile park.

In 1991, Irwin took over the running of the park, now renamed the Australia Zoo, and in 1992 met his future wife there.

American Terri Raines was on a tour of Australia and met Irwin while visiting wildlife rehabilitation facilities.

A whirlwind romance followed, and they were married on June 4, 1992.

The footage, shot by John Stainton, of their crocodile-trapping honeymoon became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter, which became wildly successful, especially in the US.

In an interview before the birth of their second child, Terri Irwin had this to say about her marriage to Steve Irwin and working together:

“We don’t drink, we don’t smoke, and we are actually in love and happily married. We love our little girl, we go home to each other at night, and we believe in what we are doing,”

“Say my husband had a dangerous job and I wasn’t with him, I don’t know how you go, ‘Oh honey, how was it with the police department today? You got all your fingers and toes today?’ It would scare me. I’d have to become a police officer and work with him; I couldn’t do it.”

The couple believed their love for wildlife and their dedication to spreading the conservation message was an around the clock duty.

In 2001, Irwin appeared in a cameo role in the Eddie Murphy film Dr Dolittle 2. In 2002, his first feature film, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, was released.

Irwin went on to star in other Animal Planet documentaries, including The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets.

Under Irwin’s leadership, his operations grew to include the zoo, the television series, The Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation (now renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide), and International Crocodile Rescue.

The Irwins had two children: Bindi Sue Irwin, born on July 24, 1998, and Robert (Bob) Clarence Irwin, born on December 1, 2003.

Irwin caused controversy during a public show on 2 January 2004, when he carried his then infant son in one arm while feeding a chicken carcass to a crocodile with the other hand.

Bob was close to the crocodile, and comparisons were made in the press with singer Michael Jackson’s dangling of his son outside a German apartment window.

As well, child welfare groups, animal rights groups and many of Irwin’s television viewers criticised his actions as being irresponsible and tantamount to child abuse.

Irwin said any danger to his son was only a perceived danger and that he was in complete control of the situation.

He never backed down over his actions despite considerable public outcry both in Australia and abroad.

His defenders pointed to his several decades of hands-on experience and direct interaction with crocodiles.

Terri Irwin said their child was in no more real danger than a child being taught to swim would be.

In June 2004, Irwin again was the subject of controversy when allegations were made that he came too close to and disturbed some wildlife while filming a documentary in Antarctica.

Animal Planet then released a Crocodile Hunter special called Crocodiles & Controversy, which attempted to explain both the “Baby Bob Incident” and the Antarctica incident.

The special argued that Irwin’s son was never in danger of being eaten by the crocodile and that Irwin could not have endangered animals in Antarctica.

Eventually Animal Planet ended The Crocodile Hunter with a series finale entitled Steve’s Last Adventure.

The last Crocodile Hunter documentary went for three emotional hours with footage of Steve’s across-the-world adventure, visiting locations like the Himalayas, the Yangtze River, Borneo, and the Kruger National Park.

One of Irwin’s last projects was for Discovery Kids, in which he developed a show for Bindi Sue.

The show, Jungle Girl, was tipped to be similar to The Wiggles movies.

A feature-length episode of The Wiggles entitled Wiggly Safari appeared dedicated to Irwin, and he featured in it heavily with his wife and daughter.

Irwin will be remembered for his enthusiastic defence of all animals, his open mind and heart and his kindness.

-Sources: News.com.au, Wikipedia, Courier-Mail

You can visit his website at http://www.crocodilehunter.com/, the site for his Animal Planet show , and his Wikipedia entry.

Read the original story from the Courier Mail in Australia, and their obituary for him.

Steve Irwin, and Those he left behind