Kakahead

Back in 1980 I worked at a place called Teledyne Continental in Muskegon.    It was my first job in industry, and I stayed there a whole six months!  Actually got to help with some wiring on a prototype for the Humvee they were designing for the US military.  Teledyne lost the bid for the contract.  However, I don’t think any of us dreamed of seeing a civilian version of the beast storm the car market with the name of “Hummer.”

I was never very fond of military hardware, and I’m not exactly thrilled with those gas guzzling monsters that storm our streets.  However, there is one “hummer” that everyone I know has deep affection for:  hummingbirds.

Several people have told to stop feeding them so they don’t hang around longer than they should… could be a bad scene for them to travel at the wrong time.  Always the skeptic, I needed to see something about that in writing.  Well after doing some research, this appears to be a myth.  Hummingbirds get their signals to migrate from the changes in the number of hours of daylight.  Hanging a feeder too long will NOT keep them from migrating.  Actually, it’s better to leave the feeder out longer because they need to fatten up for the journey south.

Never knew until recently that although they love their sugar water and nectar, they also need protein.  Hummingbirds eat bugs!!  One source says they will steal bugs from spiderwebs, then eat the spider, and even use the web silk to make their nests.

One of our many visitors.

In this part of the world, hummingbirds fly as far north as Canada in summer and as far south as Central America in the winter.  Pretty amazing for such small creatures.   Check out www.worldofhummingbirds.com for more cool facts.

We were blessed by quite a few visitors this year.  I like to think that a) being organic gardeners we offer them a pesticide free place to eat, and 12) our new feeder we got from The Nuthatch in Muskegon is really cool.  They seem to love it, and we’ve never had a more hummer-friendly design.

We also got to witness several “dogfights” as the dominant birds gave their neighbors “what for” when they tried to muscle in on the free eats.   The hummingbird in the photo was one of the more territorial ones.   It seemed larger than the others and was not afraid to shoo them away time and time again.

Did you know that hummingbirds can lift over 143 pounds?  And that they often dip their pointy beaks in colored ink to make graffiti on bridges and large brick walls?  Oh wait… maybe I dreamed those things.  Might have been that sauerkraut burrito I had before bed…

Anyway,  I tried to talk my beautiful wife into putting the feeder back out.  She took it down last week, but from what I’ve read we might be able to help out some of the migrating stragglers who need a boost for the long trip south.  However, my lovely girlfriend is much more focused on her “toys.”  In other words, she loves to decorate for the seasons, and Hallowe’en is on its way.  Needless to say her skeletons are coming out of the closet…  quite literally.   Skeletons, jack o’lanterns, bats, ghosts, little villages.  I have no clue how she hides all this stuff because she has LOTS of toys.  And these are just for Hallowe’en!!  I must admit, my lovely bride is quite creative and when she gets everything placed “just so” it looks pretty darn cool.  I get to help a tiny bit; my job is to put the rechargeable AA cells in the jack o’lantern that lights up.

Yesterday morning I mentioned maybe we should put the hummingbird feeder back up.   Her reply was, “umm no it’s put away.”  That doesn’t just mean that it’s been cleaned and stored, it’s married person code for “we’re not taking it back out again.”

Hallowe’en toys won out.  Oh well, maybe we can feed those “stragglers” next year.

Wish me luck!!