1
00:00:02,359 --> 00:00:06,320
Coming to you from Studio A Here
at proven winner's color choice Shrubs. It's

2
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:13,560
time for the Gardening Simplified Radio YouTube
and podcast show with Stacy Hervella, me,

3
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:19,120
Rick Weist, and our engineer and
producer Adrianna Robinson. Like all birds,

4
00:00:19,199 --> 00:00:25,120
hummingbirds have basic habitat requirements including food, water, shelter, and space

5
00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,679
to forge and breed in order to
thrive. And we all love to see

6
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,640
hummingbirds playing in our yards and our
landscape and our space, and we want

7
00:00:34,679 --> 00:00:39,840
to try to attract these. I'm
going to call them pugnacious birds, small

8
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:46,399
but packing a punch. It's no
stretch that synonyms for pugnacious are fitting bellicos,

9
00:00:46,679 --> 00:00:52,640
chippy, feisty, even gladiatorial when
in Rome do as the Romans do,

10
00:00:53,119 --> 00:00:56,920
and Stacy, they are evidence,
however, that there is a direct

11
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:02,880
correlation between the health and diversity of
your landscape in the wildlife that it attracts.

12
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,000
I love that. That's always good
to hear. Beautiful and colorful.

13
00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:15,239
Coming up on today's show suggested hummingbird
attracting plants and interviews with nationally recognized hummingbird

14
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:22,640
experts Alan Shartier and Sherry Williamson author
of a field guide to hummingbirds of North

15
00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,840
America with us on our liveline to
kick things off is our very own birdman,

16
00:01:27,159 --> 00:01:33,920
Bill Stovell. And Bill, we've
talked recently about bird houses and nesting

17
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,640
and that sort of thing. But
hummingbirds aren't necessarily interested in a house.

18
00:01:38,719 --> 00:01:42,400
They like to live out on the
limb and their travelers, aren't they.

19
00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,640
That's a fact. Yes, they
make a little nest up on a flat

20
00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,159
spot on a limb, off and
on a white, fine limb before I've

21
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:56,000
seen them, and they're the prettiest
little nests. They just a little tiny

22
00:01:56,079 --> 00:01:59,760
thing. They make them out of
fighter webs and out of lichens and out

23
00:01:59,799 --> 00:02:04,719
of little bits of fluff they find. And the inside of the nests is

24
00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,280
about the size of a quarter.
Wow, really small. Yeah, you're

25
00:02:07,319 --> 00:02:10,719
so right, Bill, because I
had read somewhere the eggs of the hummingbird

26
00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:15,240
are no bigger than let's say,
the size of a navy bean. And

27
00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:23,199
that soft, almost expandable nest using
spider webs lichens, as Bill had mentioned,

28
00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:29,159
Stacy, I think many people have
never seen a hummingbird nest. Well,

29
00:02:29,159 --> 00:02:31,360
they're deliberately, very careful about where
they put it. Because they are

30
00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,240
so little and they don't have a
lot of defenses, so they're not going

31
00:02:35,319 --> 00:02:38,400
to you know, dive bomb you
like the famous red wing blackbirds of Grand

32
00:02:38,479 --> 00:02:43,960
Rapids defending their nest. You know, so they need to be very sneaky

33
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,879
about it. Oh, and talk
about travel bill migration. You take the

34
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:53,240
ruby throat at hummingbird found in the
Eastern US crossing the Gulf of Mexico every

35
00:02:53,400 --> 00:03:00,319
year. You know, it migrates
between overwintering sites in central Mexico and summer

36
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,919
breeding grounds in the Eastern US.
And then you take the rufous hummingbird that

37
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,960
travels thousands of miles and I mean
thousands of miles. Think about over wintering

38
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,400
in Mexico and spending your summers in
Alaska. Unbelievable the territory these birds cover.

39
00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:23,199
That's amazing too. You know,
they binge before they go. They

40
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,280
double their weight, wow, so
that they have enough energy to make it

41
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,719
go. They just eat and eat
and eat, and all of a sudden,

42
00:03:30,719 --> 00:03:34,639
they can fly those long distances without
stopping. Wow. So they fly

43
00:03:34,759 --> 00:03:38,000
without stopping, so they don't you
know, stop in southern California or the

44
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,800
flower fields of central California for a
little break on the way. Oh they

45
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:49,319
could, I mean they don't.
They're not starved. I've got plenty of

46
00:03:49,439 --> 00:03:52,960
energy to get there. That's amazing. You know. One interesting thing I've

47
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:58,680
observed with the hummingbirds is that they
of course feed by day on nectar from

48
00:03:58,759 --> 00:04:01,879
flowers. So we're talking about annuals
and perennials, tree shrubs, vines,

49
00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:11,439
but also insects are important to hummingbirds, fruit flies, gnats. I've even

50
00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:16,000
heard of hummingbirds consuming tree sap am, I correct in that bird man.

51
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,519
A good portion of the of the
protein they get is from the insects,

52
00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:27,000
so there's a big factor. Thirty
to forty percent of their diet is little

53
00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,279
insects. But all your plants,
of course attract all these little insects too.

54
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,759
You look at the data on hummingbirds
and how fast their heart races and

55
00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:43,519
their wings flap. They have to
have some high energy fuel to be able

56
00:04:43,519 --> 00:04:46,319
to function well. They have to
have high energy fuel because it seems to

57
00:04:46,319 --> 00:04:49,240
me at times they only eat so
they can get enough energy to fight off

58
00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:54,279
their predators or other predators. But
they're competitors, they're each other, right,

59
00:04:54,399 --> 00:04:56,680
I mean, they pack a lot
of rage into those little bodies.

60
00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,920
Yes, they do pugnacious right.
The best way to support hummingbirds and other

61
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,639
pollinators in your area, of course, is to plant nectar plants. But

62
00:05:05,959 --> 00:05:13,839
this is interesting. Some scientists suggest
the presence of feeders may impact natural pollination

63
00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,800
of plants alter hummingbird behavior. There
are other people who say, no,

64
00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:24,920
no, no, no. Feeders
help bolster hummingbird populations by counteracting the loss

65
00:05:24,959 --> 00:05:30,040
of forage and habitat caused by human
activity. I guess there's some debate on

66
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:35,759
this matter. I mean camp number
two very strongly, because when the hummingbirds

67
00:05:35,759 --> 00:05:42,720
come back, sometimes there isn't enough
blossom availability, but they can start with

68
00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:51,079
sugar water until the insects increase and
the flowers increase to maintain their their their

69
00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:57,639
health. So it's it's a it's
a twofold area and it's so simple.

70
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,639
And it's also helped people recogni the
birds and have the entertainment of having them

71
00:06:01,639 --> 00:06:06,160
in their side yard in front of
the window, and that encourages them to

72
00:06:06,319 --> 00:06:11,399
plant things that will keep them in
the yard. No, absolutely, you

73
00:06:11,439 --> 00:06:15,120
know, seeing them and starting to
appreciate them really is the first step to

74
00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:17,759
you know, conservation and making sure
that you are doing the right thing.

75
00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,240
And you know, I find I
have a combination of both as well.

76
00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,639
I have a lot of plants that
attract hummingbirds through in bloom you know,

77
00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,800
from spring until fall, and a
bunch of feeders. And I'll tell you,

78
00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:30,279
when they visit the yard, they
make use of both. They're not

79
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,680
just like one or the other.
They're they're browsing the buffet, they're coming

80
00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,439
up to the dessert table. They're
doing it all. Yeah, And if

81
00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:41,240
you think about it, we talked
about diversity in the landscape. Sure,

82
00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,399
nectar flowers in the landscape, but
they want trees in order to build their

83
00:06:46,519 --> 00:06:51,160
nests. There's certain plants that they
want to help build their nests, like

84
00:06:51,319 --> 00:06:56,720
lambs eer is a plant in the
landscape that I've heard hummingbirds use. So,

85
00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,319
again, build diversity in the landscape
is pro probably going to help attract

86
00:07:00,399 --> 00:07:09,680
these these beautiful birds to your yard. That's a fact. Now, this

87
00:07:09,959 --> 00:07:16,639
this is an international show. So
the ruby throats are basically east of the

88
00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:21,480
Mississippi, but there are fifteen species
west of the Mississippi, particularly in the

89
00:07:21,519 --> 00:07:28,160
Southwest, and there are places that
there are centers where they just put up

90
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:33,720
these these beautiful gardens and these sugar
water feeders, and they just flooded with

91
00:07:34,519 --> 00:07:40,560
many species of the huntingbird at the
same time. It's amazing many different species.

92
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,439
You are correct, and we'll talk
to Sherry Williamson about that also,

93
00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:49,439
Birdman in summer. Sometimes people will
send me pictures or video of this cool

94
00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:56,480
hummingbird that they saw in their landscape
and reality it wasn't a hummingbird at all.

95
00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,759
It was a moth right at think
spot. Yes, they're a wonderful

96
00:08:00,839 --> 00:08:03,800
little thing. They're gorgeous and that
will show up and they're just they just

97
00:08:03,839 --> 00:08:07,639
buzz around and they're just studis can
be so, but they're they're not a

98
00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,120
bird, no, but they can. You know, I have I am.

99
00:08:11,519 --> 00:08:15,759
I feel like I'm a good bird
observer, and I have been momentarily

100
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,519
thrown by a clear wing mouth or
sphinx moth because they they kind of hover

101
00:08:20,639 --> 00:08:24,120
in browse plants and of course the
same plants the hummingbirds would in the same

102
00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:28,480
way. And you know, you
you you experienced that with the right person,

103
00:08:28,519 --> 00:08:31,800
They're not even going to believe you
that it wasn't a bird bird.

104
00:08:31,839 --> 00:08:39,039
Well, there they're the ecological gap
between hummers are the gap between birds and

105
00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,559
bees because they do an awful lot
of pollinating while they're doing the getting their

106
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:50,159
staff. Definitely, absolutely, absolutely
birdman. As I mentioned coming up on

107
00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:56,480
the show Sherry Williamson and the North
American Guide to Hummingbirds Peterson's Guide. You

108
00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:01,200
had a chance to meet mister Peterson, Yeah, more than once, and

109
00:09:01,279 --> 00:09:07,720
he was a very high energy guy, a big man, and just bubbled

110
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:15,679
with enthusiasm. He's a fabulous artist
and his research on his first first book,

111
00:09:15,919 --> 00:09:20,480
which was nineteen forty nineteen thirty nine, nineteen forty seven, nineteen sixty

112
00:09:20,519 --> 00:09:26,759
seven, was the original Bible of
birding, and it had a lot to

113
00:09:26,759 --> 00:09:31,120
do and there was a lot about
hummingbirds in that. So it's easy to

114
00:09:31,159 --> 00:09:35,440
say he was one of your inspirations
as a birder, as a naturalist,

115
00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:43,720
as somebody who enjoys and loves conservation
in the landscape, probably one of your

116
00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:48,159
influences. Well, I grew up
in Western New York, which is real

117
00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,240
close to Cornell, and we had
a lot of Cornell people, and he

118
00:09:52,399 --> 00:09:56,039
was from Chautauqua Lake, an area, and it was kind of a birding

119
00:09:56,039 --> 00:09:58,279
center where I came from, and
so it was a lot of fun to.

120
00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:07,000
I have several monitaris there in my
Hamburg, New York area to help

121
00:10:07,039 --> 00:10:11,360
me on its path. So I've
been doing birding ever since I've a little

122
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:16,440
kid. That's fantastic bird man.
We appreciate you, thanks for getting us

123
00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,440
started. Today it's going to be
the big humming Bird Show. And coming

124
00:10:20,519 --> 00:10:26,120
up next Stacey and I will share
with you some favorites that we use to

125
00:10:26,159 --> 00:10:31,480
attract hummingbirds to our landscape. That's
coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified

126
00:10:31,519 --> 00:10:41,320
Show. Proven Winners, Color Choice
Shrubs cares about your success in the garden.

127
00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,559
That's why we trial and test all
of our shrubs for eight to ten

128
00:10:45,639 --> 00:10:48,600
years, making sure they outperform everything
else on the market. Look for them

129
00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:54,720
and the distinctive white container at your
local garden center. Greetings, gardening friends,

130
00:10:54,759 --> 00:11:00,879
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified
Show, The Hummingbirds Simpler Show.

131
00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,759
If you can simplify them, they
are quite complex and fascinating creatures. And

132
00:11:05,919 --> 00:11:09,000
you know, I think one thing
that is truly amazing about hummingbirds that a

133
00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,639
lot of people don't realize is that
they are only found in the Americas.

134
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,639
So if you are abroad, if
you're in another country, you will not

135
00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:22,559
see hummingbirds. Interest. There are
some similar ish birds in other tropical countries,

136
00:11:24,639 --> 00:11:28,720
but for the most part, they
are uniquely ours. And they're one

137
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,679
of those plants that if you ever
are looking at like birding groups online on

138
00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:37,399
Facebook or forums, you know,
that's like when people from Europe come to

139
00:11:37,399 --> 00:11:41,879
the US, that's what they hope
to see is a hummingbird. Lucky us,

140
00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,919
right, and they have starlings.
We have humming birds, right,

141
00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,879
So like the ruby throated hummingbird for
us is just like, you know,

142
00:11:48,039 --> 00:11:50,960
such a lifer for them, such
a bird that they would truly desire to

143
00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:54,320
see. And so I always think, you know, especially in later summer

144
00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,120
when they're going bananas in my yard, just like, oh, if only

145
00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,039
one of those people could just like
come in here and just see how wonderful

146
00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:05,200
they are. And so I think
it's important that we don't lose sight of

147
00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,799
how amazing it is that we have
them, especially in the north. You

148
00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,559
know. It's one thing. Of
course, in the southwest, where the

149
00:12:11,919 --> 00:12:15,120
climate is much more amenable with year
round food, we don't have that.

150
00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,960
But it is plants on trial.
So of course we're talking about plants and

151
00:12:18,039 --> 00:12:22,240
hummingbirds, and I grow a huge
diversity of plants. I mean, one

152
00:12:22,279 --> 00:12:26,399
of my main criteria for adding a
plant to my garden is does it,

153
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:33,320
you know, somehow support intacts or
birds, and so a lot of plants

154
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,039
that I happen to have do.
Actually, So I've seen the hummingbirds recently

155
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:41,080
visiting my nepada. My cat's me
out epaa. They are loving that,

156
00:12:41,399 --> 00:12:46,440
sampling all sorts of other things.
All my annuals I specifically buy for hummingbirds.

157
00:12:46,519 --> 00:12:50,519
So yeah, that's me. That's
a good way to like get money's

158
00:12:50,519 --> 00:12:54,480
worth out of them. And again
diversity. Yeah, this morning, Yes,

159
00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,080
I saw hummingbirds at my nepotas in
the backyards. Yeah, they're having

160
00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,759
a gradile. They're they eat hugara. They feed on hucraa flowers, which

161
00:13:01,799 --> 00:13:05,360
a lot of people, you know, they think kukraa, oh that foliage

162
00:13:05,399 --> 00:13:07,919
plant if you have a good one
for flowering. They love the flowers on

163
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,360
yukra. And I didn't believe that
would be the case since they're so close

164
00:13:11,399 --> 00:13:13,080
to the ground, you know,
the hugra of flowers. But I have

165
00:13:13,159 --> 00:13:18,200
seen it myself and I can attest
and you know, when I was thinking

166
00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,759
about what plants are put on trial
today. I had a couple. I

167
00:13:20,759 --> 00:13:24,240
mean, we have many different shrubs
that attract hummingbirds and sustain hummingbirds through the

168
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,799
season. But I was thinking about
an experience I had two weeks ago.

169
00:13:30,039 --> 00:13:33,679
I was staying with some friends in
ann Arbor, and they have a kind

170
00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:37,399
of a unique landscape where their house
is like a split level and so you

171
00:13:37,399 --> 00:13:41,200
look down onto sort of a cavernous
driveway and they have all these cascading plants

172
00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:48,039
coming over their driveway. And I
was looking out the window and there were

173
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:54,200
some wigilla down there that were absolutely
mobbed with hummingbirds. Now that shouldn't really

174
00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,720
be surprising because waijilla have all the
trademark characteristics of being a good hummingbird food

175
00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,879
plant, trumpet shaped flowers, that
kind of pink red color family typically,

176
00:14:01,919 --> 00:14:07,320
although there are some white varieties out
there, but I had never really seen

177
00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,320
them like making so much use out
of the whitejela. And I thought,

178
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,480
I can see it, Yeah,
I can see it. And I thought,

179
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,159
well, why don't I have a
whitegela because this is kind of great.

180
00:14:16,919 --> 00:14:18,360
And when you are thinking about,
you know, adding a whitela,

181
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:22,559
it's important to think about these spring
flowering plants, you know, like Birdman

182
00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,360
was just saying that you need to
have food sources for them from when they

183
00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,600
arrive in here in Michigan. That's
usually late April, like the last week

184
00:14:30,639 --> 00:14:35,080
of April or thereabouts, you know, and especially then it's important because it's

185
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:39,120
cold and they need to refuel after
their long journey. So we need plants

186
00:14:39,159 --> 00:14:41,759
that, you know, sometimes all
the summer stuff gets all the credit,

187
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,960
you know, like your canas of
course for us not blooming until summer.

188
00:14:45,279 --> 00:14:48,200
So it's really good when you're thinking
about this diversity. It's not just a

189
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,279
diversity of plant types, it's a
diversity of bloom times. And for people

190
00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,000
keeping score at home, when I
drove up to the studio today, Stacey,

191
00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:01,519
the Woogella were just in full bloom
and gorgeous here in Michigan right now.

192
00:15:01,559 --> 00:15:03,120
Yeah, they are an absolute peak
bloom. And so there's such a

193
00:15:03,159 --> 00:15:07,679
great choice for that. And when
I was thinking about which of our white

194
00:15:07,679 --> 00:15:13,000
Gela is to put on trial today, I decided on snippet dark pink Whitjela,

195
00:15:13,039 --> 00:15:15,559
and I picked this one for two
main reasons. I mean, we've

196
00:15:15,559 --> 00:15:18,279
already established whyjela are great for hummingbirds. But I picked this particular one for

197
00:15:18,279 --> 00:15:22,039
two main reasons. Number one,
it is a reblooming why gula. Okay,

198
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,720
so it's gonna bloom now along with
all the other white gela, and

199
00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,600
then it's gonna take a little bit
of a break and put on more new

200
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,039
growth, and in that period,
as much new growth as it puts on,

201
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,879
it will be able to create additional
flowers on to bloom throughout summer.

202
00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:41,679
Fabulous. So with reblooming whitedela like
Snippet dark Pink or Arsonic Bloom series,

203
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,840
you're getting that much longer window of
a food source without really having to do

204
00:15:45,919 --> 00:15:48,399
anything or take up more space or
anything like that. So that's one thing

205
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,240
I really like in terms of finding
a why igela to accommodate hummingbirds. And

206
00:15:52,279 --> 00:15:56,519
then the second one is, as
you may yes by that name Snippet dark

207
00:15:56,559 --> 00:16:02,080
pink, this is a very small
whitela, and some older wiglas they get

208
00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:03,759
really large, and so people I
think, you know a lot of times

209
00:16:03,759 --> 00:16:07,600
they have a nostalgic connection to Iigella, but they are thinking of like,

210
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,200
you know, their gramma's wigelo and
they were growing up, which a They

211
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:12,399
were probably like two and a half
feet tall at the time, so the

212
00:16:12,399 --> 00:16:18,240
things seemed extra big and be the
older varieties were legitimately quite large, large

213
00:16:18,639 --> 00:16:25,320
woody, flopping over intimidate right.
So snippet dark pink reaches just one to

214
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,639
two feet tall and wide. So
this is a whigella that if you're looking

215
00:16:29,639 --> 00:16:32,480
for ways to attract hummingbirds and you're
short on space, so you have a

216
00:16:32,519 --> 00:16:34,559
condo, an apartment, a balcony, something like that, this is a

217
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,840
plant that is going to take up
very little space but give you a lot

218
00:16:38,879 --> 00:16:41,279
of bang for your buck. And
of course the flowers have that nice dark

219
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,600
pink color. We many of us
know that hummingbirds are more attracted to like

220
00:16:45,679 --> 00:16:48,840
the red dark pink color range,
although they're not particularly picky, you know.

221
00:16:48,879 --> 00:16:52,000
We were just talking about them being
on NEPAA, which is blue,

222
00:16:52,159 --> 00:16:56,519
bluish purple, and so it's a
great choice I think for all of those

223
00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,639
characteristics to just kind of tuck into
your gar and you want to put it

224
00:17:00,679 --> 00:17:04,160
in full sun like most way Gula
it is a full sun plant and then

225
00:17:04,279 --> 00:17:07,519
just sit back and watch the hummingbirds
come by. You sold me. I'm

226
00:17:07,519 --> 00:17:11,519
going to add snippet to my landscape. Now again, we've talked about this

227
00:17:11,559 --> 00:17:19,440
a number of times already today,
diversity and you know favorite hummingbird plants,

228
00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,799
would Youila, You're right, absolutely
has to be on that list. Do

229
00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:29,480
you have a couple of other really
go tos that you really think this one?

230
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,000
I mean, I think Kufia is
one. Yeah, you know,

231
00:17:32,039 --> 00:17:36,160
I love my kufia, and vermillionaire
Cufia from proven Winters is one that I

232
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,799
have to grow every year because of
the hummingbirds. You know, they don't

233
00:17:40,079 --> 00:17:42,799
so I put those right on either
side of my back door, and they

234
00:17:42,839 --> 00:17:47,559
don't tend to feed at them quite
a lot until later in the season and

235
00:17:47,599 --> 00:17:51,000
then they're just like you know,
they're just crazed for food. Sure,

236
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:52,839
and so in that case then I
see them a lot. But it's still,

237
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,720
you know, just because I don't
see them doesn't mean that they're not

238
00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:57,279
there. So cufias it must have
for me. Any kind of selvia,

239
00:17:57,319 --> 00:18:00,640
and I know you're a selvia person
too. Salvia big time. Looking forward

240
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:08,079
to twenty twenty five unplugged red Salvia
dynamic cultivar of our native scarlet sage.

241
00:18:08,559 --> 00:18:14,319
Looking forward to this proven winner's plant
but any of the unplugged or rockin series

242
00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,720
of salvias from proven winners. And
then of course, yes, Stacy,

243
00:18:17,799 --> 00:18:21,319
I am the can of King and
canas are my go to for humming Well,

244
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:23,519
you know, talk about a red
flowers. I mean there are cannons

245
00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:27,160
with other flowers, but the classic
one that you have, that red flower

246
00:18:27,279 --> 00:18:30,720
is irresistible to them, and it's
nice and tall, and I think that

247
00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:33,440
having that height difference, having a
lot of different heights is also good for

248
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,720
them. I mean, I'm always
surprised to see them get so close to

249
00:18:36,759 --> 00:18:38,920
the ground, but you know they'll
be They're still going to be very cautious

250
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:44,200
about predators or you know, anything
like that. So they do also tend

251
00:18:44,279 --> 00:18:48,440
to like plants that flower a little
bit higher in the sky. I am

252
00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,119
actually trying a new annual this year. I don't know if you're familiar with

253
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,200
it, Hummingbird Falls Salvia. And
this is a what they're calling a hanging

254
00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,480
basket salvia. I've never grown up, so instead of growing up right like

255
00:19:00,519 --> 00:19:04,559
other salvia's, it's actually cascading and
so you do see it in hanging baskets.

256
00:19:04,599 --> 00:19:07,640
I did not get it in a
hanging basket I just got like a

257
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,160
standalone one gallon that I'm going to
put into a container in my hummingbird garden.

258
00:19:11,799 --> 00:19:15,880
I'm very excited to try that.
And you know, this isn't a

259
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,640
plant, but I have. I
did something almost life changing this week,

260
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,759
and a small thing almost life changing. I can't yet speak to spreaking news

261
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,079
simplified show let's hear it. I
can't yet speak to how it's gonna affect

262
00:19:27,079 --> 00:19:32,119
the humming birds. But my mom
was showing me this video of a woman

263
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:37,519
who lives out in California and creates
all these wacky solar fountains for hummingbirds and

264
00:19:37,559 --> 00:19:41,440
they love to bathe in them.
And so I had this bird feeder or

265
00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,720
this bird bath that I loved,
but it was really deep and not convenient

266
00:19:44,759 --> 00:19:45,680
for the birds because it was too
deep. They couldn't get in it.

267
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,480
I tried putting rocks, it was
a pain to clean. I bought a

268
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:55,720
solar bird bath fountain, and all
you do is you fill up the bird

269
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:57,640
bath and you put this thing in
there, and like even as soon as

270
00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:02,240
I took it outside, it's just
like it's like whoa son, I'm going

271
00:20:02,279 --> 00:20:04,480
It has all these different little nozzles
that you can put on it. It

272
00:20:04,559 --> 00:20:10,119
is amazing. Now. I just
put this up over the weekend last weekend,

273
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,640
so right now. So I haven't
been able to say for sure because

274
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,079
it takes them some time. And
this is true if you put up you

275
00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:18,559
know, a feeder or anything like
that, it takes some time to feel

276
00:20:18,599 --> 00:20:22,599
comfortable. Sure, they stake it
out for a bit first, but I'm

277
00:20:22,599 --> 00:20:26,160
pretty confident that this is going to
be a hummingbird game changer, and even

278
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,920
if it isn't, honestly, it's
a lot of fun. We were playing

279
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,640
around with the nozzles, changing them
out and as long as it's sunny,

280
00:20:33,759 --> 00:20:38,519
you're good to go. So between
the bird bath and the unplugged red salvia

281
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,920
for twenty twenty five, wow,
Yeah, the game change decked out.

282
00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,880
It is getting decked out for the
hummingbirds. Yeah, and that's what I

283
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,319
love too. And you know what, all of these things at the end

284
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,000
of the day, they're good for
the hummingbirds, but they're good for you

285
00:20:51,039 --> 00:20:53,039
too, because it's great to just
have a lot of flowers in your yard,

286
00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,799
not just for the hummingbirds, but
for bees and other you know,

287
00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,440
insects and things that visit the garden
and and then your yard looks better and

288
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,400
you feel like a garden rock star. So it's win win when it's just

289
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,200
win all around. So whatever you
can do to improve your garden for hummingbirds,

290
00:21:07,319 --> 00:21:11,160
whether that is planting Snippet Dark Pink
Way Jela or one of the many

291
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:17,119
Proven Winners annuals that sustain hummingbirds,
or maybe adding a solar fountain to an

292
00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:19,559
unused bird bath, it's all good. We're going to take a little break.

293
00:21:19,559 --> 00:21:22,079
When we come back, we have
got a guest, so please stay

294
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:33,359
tuned. At Proven Winner's Color Choice, We've got a shrub for every taste

295
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,440
and every space. Whether you're looking
for an easy care rose and unforgettable hydrangea

296
00:21:37,559 --> 00:21:41,599
or something new and unique, you
can be confident that the shrubs and the

297
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,640
white containers have been trialed and tested
for your success. Look for them at

298
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:51,599
your local garden center. You know, I love my Cooper Million. It's

299
00:21:51,599 --> 00:21:57,920
our privilege. And Alan he is
the Michigan hummingbird guy. He's been interested

300
00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:02,960
in science and nature since he was
five years old and began bird watching when

301
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:08,720
he was eleven, and now that
includes wow birding trips to twenty eight countries.

302
00:22:08,799 --> 00:22:15,119
Has birded in all fifty US states. Alan is an amazing photographer.

303
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:19,279
He's been a bird bander since nineteen
ninety seven and a hummingbird bander since two

304
00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:26,119
thousand when he began the Great Lakes
Hummernet Research Project. Alan, it's a

305
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:32,000
privilege and a pleasure to have you
on the Gardening Simplified Show. Well,

306
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,920
thank you for inviting me. Alan. Can you start off by talking to

307
00:22:37,079 --> 00:22:45,680
our listeners and our viewers about bird
banding, specifically hummingbirds, why it's important

308
00:22:45,839 --> 00:22:52,200
and give us an idea of what
that process is like. Well, I'll

309
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,119
try to be brief. Bird Banding
is a research tool that has been used

310
00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:03,759
for well over one hundred years guarded
with banding of waterfowl, and it helped

311
00:23:03,799 --> 00:23:10,039
to work out the migration corridors of
migrating ducks and geese, and the hunters

312
00:23:10,079 --> 00:23:15,160
would shoot the birds and the numbers
would get recorded, and so you'd find

313
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:19,359
out where the bird was banded,
where it was shot, and pieced together

314
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:25,039
their migration routes. It's come a
long way since then, but it still

315
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:30,920
is basically an aluminum ring of band
placed on a bird's leg with a unique

316
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,920
number on it, so that when
it's found one way or another, either

317
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:40,480
shot as in a duck or recaptured
as in maybe another hummingbird bander on the

318
00:23:40,519 --> 00:23:45,960
Gulf Coast of Texas. That number
can be reported back to the US Geological

319
00:23:45,039 --> 00:23:52,000
Survey's bird banding Lab. And this
is a highly regulated activity that requires a

320
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,039
lot of training. You have to
have valid research project in order to become

321
00:23:56,079 --> 00:24:00,680
a bird bander. And there are
probably the ducks and geese and things that's

322
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:06,480
all kind of vn rs and fish
and wildlife does that. But songbirds.

323
00:24:07,039 --> 00:24:12,079
There are maybe two or three thousand
of US across North America that do different

324
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:18,759
kinds of projects with songbirds, and
there's only about one hundred of US who

325
00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:23,839
do hummingbirds because it requires a special
permit beyond the regular songbird permit and special

326
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:29,000
training. And there are different reasons
for that, but it's you know,

327
00:24:29,279 --> 00:24:32,599
they're small. A lot of it
has to do with the fact that they're

328
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:38,799
very small birds, and safety is
priority one with all of these research projects.

329
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:41,039
You want to make sure that you
know, if you're going to put

330
00:24:41,079 --> 00:24:45,960
a band on a bird to learn
something about it, that the birds are

331
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,599
not harmed or in any way or
there's no detrimental effect, So you want

332
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,279
to figure out their longevity and their
migration routs and things like that. So

333
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,920
being highly trained to be as safe
as possible is all part of the process.

334
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:06,559
And just how tiny is a band
for a hummingbird? So I do

335
00:25:07,079 --> 00:25:11,720
PowerPoint programs for garden clubs and bird
clubs, and I have a PowerPoint presentation

336
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:17,000
showing one of these bands on the
tip of my finger, and that's really

337
00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:19,279
the best way to see how small
they are. So I mean, if

338
00:25:19,279 --> 00:25:25,400
I tell you that the bands are
roughly two millimeters in diameter and one point

339
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:30,440
four millimeters tall, that sounds small, but when you see it on my

340
00:25:30,599 --> 00:25:37,000
finger in a photo, it's really
really small. A band that we put

341
00:25:37,039 --> 00:25:42,200
on a chickadee is like eight times
bigger. Wow, that's amazing. And

342
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:48,240
the bands are for songbirds come to
us in the envelopes in strings of one

343
00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:52,680
hundred on a wire and they're stamped
and curled into a you know, a

344
00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:56,160
ring. The hummingbird bands come to
us on a flat sheet. They have

345
00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:00,720
to cut them out with special tools
and file them down and pet them to

346
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,839
size, so we actually have to
make them versus you know, that's where

347
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,440
the special training comes in, so
you need to have really good close vision,

348
00:26:08,519 --> 00:26:12,039
which I've been near sighted. I've
worn glasses since I was eight years

349
00:26:12,039 --> 00:26:18,799
old, and so working with tiny
things has been kind of second nature to

350
00:26:18,839 --> 00:26:22,200
me. But you have to make
the bands so that they the right size.

351
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:27,359
They won't be too tighter or too
large and stuff off and no sharp

352
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:33,519
edges and all that stuff. So
but yeah, they're very tiny. People

353
00:26:33,559 --> 00:26:37,559
often ask me how much do they
weigh? My scale way to the tenth

354
00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:41,559
of a gram, and I don't
know. I put one on it registers

355
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,039
zero. Other people telling me they
weigh like eight milligrams or something like that,

356
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,319
so about eight thousands of a gram. So they're very very light,

357
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:53,319
don't impede the bird bird's movement or
flight in any way. And you know,

358
00:26:53,519 --> 00:26:56,359
all the other bands for all the
other birds are also generally made out

359
00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:02,920
of aluminum, except for in some
cases, like cardinals have a really powerful

360
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:07,200
bite, they have to use stainless
steel bands for some of those birds because

361
00:27:07,279 --> 00:27:11,559
they can just smash the aluminum with
their bags. Interesting, we're talking to

362
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:15,960
Alan Shartier and he is the Michigan
hummingbird Guy. Now the link to his

363
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:22,960
website. We're gonna put that at
our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot

364
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,079
com, and those of you watching
on YouTube, you can see some of

365
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:33,200
that information on your screen also because
there are links there that describe some of

366
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:40,079
this work that Alan does as well
as incredible pictures that he takes from northern

367
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:45,759
flickers to tree swallows and yellow warblers
on his Flicker account. That link is

368
00:27:45,799 --> 00:27:51,920
there on his account. Also important
work that you do with banding. Alan.

369
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,759
For our listeners and our viewers,
someone who has a backyard, loves

370
00:27:56,839 --> 00:28:02,720
flowers and plants, a word of
advice for our listeners as far as hummingbirds

371
00:28:02,759 --> 00:28:07,599
are concerned, and what you've learned
through the years, how can we appreciate

372
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:15,960
them best? How can we support
hummingbird populations well? As a hummingbird researcher,

373
00:28:15,039 --> 00:28:18,960
I am not home very much,
and as a photographer, I really

374
00:28:19,039 --> 00:28:25,240
am into wildflowers of all kinds.
So I don't have a really good background

375
00:28:25,279 --> 00:28:27,519
in gardening because I'm not home long
enough to do any of it. But

376
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,839
having spoken to lots and lots of
garden clubs and familiar with a whole lot

377
00:28:32,839 --> 00:28:37,599
of other researchers who work on this, it's good to have a home that

378
00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:41,240
is a yard that is a little
bit scruffy for wildlife in general. Really

379
00:28:41,279 --> 00:28:48,240
manicured spot is not going to be
that good for wildlife in general. And

380
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,960
I like to promote the nectar sources
from flowers, and you can put bird

381
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,440
feed hummingbird feeders up as well,
with the realization that you know, the

382
00:28:57,519 --> 00:29:03,240
hummingbird feeders are mostly for you to
be able to see them closer. The

383
00:29:03,319 --> 00:29:07,839
nectar sources. I like to promote
native plants primarily, although there are a

384
00:29:07,839 --> 00:29:11,480
lot of non native plants that hummingbirds
really do like as well, and there's

385
00:29:11,519 --> 00:29:15,880
some other plants that are kind of
in between. So for example, the

386
00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:22,079
trumpet vine is a very well known
among hummingbird enthusiasts plant. It's got five

387
00:29:22,119 --> 00:29:27,720
inch long red tubular flowers and it
needs support in full sun, and it

388
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:33,039
grows up on a trellis or a
fence really well. But it's not native

389
00:29:33,279 --> 00:29:37,640
as far north as Michigan, but
it is native to North America. Other

390
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,119
plants like hostas are native to Japan, but they are hummingbirds like them too,

391
00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:51,839
And then of course all kinds of
native species like cardinal flower, columbines,

392
00:29:52,839 --> 00:30:00,039
and then verbenas and lobelias and things
like that. Turtle head, wild

393
00:30:00,079 --> 00:30:07,559
bergamot, things like that are also
very good. A plant that grows in

394
00:30:07,839 --> 00:30:11,640
wet places is it's called jewel weed
or spotted touch me not, and most

395
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,519
people don't put that in the garden
because it needs to be wet. But

396
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,799
it looms in fall during my fall
migration of hummingbirds, and the hummingbird is

397
00:30:19,799 --> 00:30:25,680
an important pollinator of that plant.
So keeping all of this in mind is

398
00:30:26,039 --> 00:30:34,480
keeping Tubular plants are the primary interest
to hummingbirds. Generally, they don't like

399
00:30:34,559 --> 00:30:42,079
to feed from open flat plants,
you know. One one exception would be

400
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:48,079
impatience. People often have impatience hanging
from their their porches or and so forth,

401
00:30:48,119 --> 00:30:51,839
and the hummingbirds will go to those, and they'll go to petunia's as

402
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:56,279
well. But flat plants like daisies
tend to have a lot of insects,

403
00:30:56,279 --> 00:31:00,000
stinging insects landing on them, and
there's a lot of competition for the hummy

404
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:03,319
birds. The tugular plants allow the
hummingbirds to stick its beak in there and

405
00:31:03,359 --> 00:31:08,440
have privacy while it licks out that
little micro lead of nectar. Well,

406
00:31:08,519 --> 00:31:11,200
nobody else can get at it,
and so they can go in there and

407
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:18,319
visit flower after flower after flower.
So the tubular nature of the flower is

408
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:25,759
important, and red is on the
hummingbird feeders, but our ruby thryer hummingbirds

409
00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:30,680
are not necessarily don't require red plants. You know, some of these lobilies

410
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,960
are blue or purple, the columbines
are red and yellow, the turtle heads

411
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,039
there's white ones. And so the
hummingbirds will find the nectar if you put

412
00:31:40,039 --> 00:31:42,480
a variety of these kinds of things
in your yard and also try to find

413
00:31:42,519 --> 00:31:48,960
things that bloom. From finding things
that bloom in May is difficult in Michigan,

414
00:31:48,759 --> 00:31:52,400
but throughout the summer and into the
fall, hummingbirds are used to nectar

415
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:59,319
sources coming and going because there's no
plant that blooms all all growing season.

416
00:31:59,359 --> 00:32:04,880
Along if you have things that will
replace, you know, when your columbines

417
00:32:05,079 --> 00:32:08,759
whether and die out, you've got
maybe a verbena or maybe a bergamot coming

418
00:32:08,839 --> 00:32:13,640
in later, and then maybe the
lobelias, and then maybe even your jewel

419
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:15,759
weeds coming in later. So if
you have things that kind of cycle through

420
00:32:15,759 --> 00:32:20,559
the season, your hummingbirds will always
have some nectar sources. And then of

421
00:32:20,599 --> 00:32:24,119
course they have a fairly large range, so half a mile to three quarters

422
00:32:24,119 --> 00:32:28,640
of a mile, So they're not
just visiting your garden much as you might

423
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,000
like to think that you're your birds. They're going out into the woodlands nearby,

424
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:36,799
and they're they're finding the native plants
out there as well, and they're

425
00:32:36,799 --> 00:32:40,119
eating insects too, so insects are
also an important part of their diet.

426
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:45,400
So keeping your garden pesticide free is
important. Even though you might not want

427
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:50,119
insects, the hummingbirds want them,
and they like the tiny flying insects.

428
00:32:51,119 --> 00:32:54,279
Then the pesticides will go into the
root system and into the nectar and into

429
00:32:54,279 --> 00:32:58,799
the hummingbirds, so you want to
avoid doing that too. Wow. That

430
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:02,839
was incredible, really well said,
and we appreciate that. Alan. We

431
00:33:02,839 --> 00:33:07,799
we have been talking to Alan Shartier
and if you're interested in learning more,

432
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,920
his website is great go to it. We have the link at Gardeningsimplified on

433
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:17,319
air dot com or right here on
YouTube on your screen. Alan. Thank

434
00:33:17,359 --> 00:33:23,359
you so much for what you do
for for birding and we appreciate your time

435
00:33:23,599 --> 00:33:28,240
here on the Gardening Simplified shows are
most even close for sure. I know

436
00:33:28,759 --> 00:33:36,799
I like your primarily although lovers and
there's so For example, the trumpet vine

437
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:42,160
is a very well known among The
Gardening Simplified Show is brought to you by

438
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,000
proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have

439
00:33:46,079 --> 00:33:51,680
been trialed and tested for your success, so you enjoy more beauty and less

440
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,640
work. Look for proven Winners,
color Choice shrubs and the distinctive white container

441
00:33:54,799 --> 00:34:00,759
at your local garden center. Welcome
back to the Gardener Simplified Show. Today,

442
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,799
for our branching news segment, we
have the privilege to chat with Sherry

443
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:12,960
Williamson. She is a naturalist,
ornithologist, conservationist, birder writer, author,

444
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,679
artist. Sherry and her husband and
colleague Tom Wood, moved to Arizona

445
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:23,400
to work as live in managers of
the Nature Conservancy's Ramsey Canyon Preserved through nineteen

446
00:34:23,559 --> 00:34:29,960
ninety five. So her more recent
work has been restoring and managing the gardens

447
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:35,960
at ash Canyon Birds Sanctuary, a
birding hotspot just a few miles from Ramsey.

448
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:42,079
Sherry is the author of a Peterson
Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America.

449
00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:46,039
It was originally published in two thousand
and two, and she's currently working

450
00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:51,639
on a revision of a field Guide
to Hummingbirds for North America. Sherry,

451
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,599
thank you so much for joining us
on the Gardening Simplified Show. Thank you

452
00:34:55,679 --> 00:35:00,000
so much for having me. I'm
delighted to be here. I loved listening

453
00:35:00,039 --> 00:35:06,760
to a podcast an interview that you
did when you said, I have you've

454
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:15,280
mentioned that you consider hummingbirds a gateway
drug to nature and conservancy. I love

455
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:21,599
that because I have often said in
the garden industry, tomatoes and peppers are

456
00:35:21,639 --> 00:35:28,679
the gateway drug to garden. There
are a lot of gateway drugs out there,

457
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:35,360
of the good kind, Yes,
exactly. So gardening and birdie and

458
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,199
conservation are all very a wholesome thing. So we're glad to have those kinds

459
00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:43,199
of gateway drugs in our lives.
Absolutely. Now, of course, all

460
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:47,559
of the links to Sherry's website and
the many things that she does, including

461
00:35:47,559 --> 00:35:51,760
her book, you'll find them.
We're going to link them to our website,

462
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,920
Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
But Sherry, I was reading in

463
00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,199
your blog, I was fascinated by
this. You say, hummingbirds truly are

464
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:07,360
masters of color, creating more hues
and iridescence than any other birds combined,

465
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:12,960
or all other birds combined. That's
quite a statement, it is. You

466
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:19,000
know, that was the result of
a relatively recent study where they analyze the

467
00:36:19,119 --> 00:36:22,760
colors found in birds, and you
think about many, many colors that are

468
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:29,320
produced by pigments, but also the
incredible rainbow of colors produced by iridescence.

469
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:37,280
But humming birds, they found,
have their colors occupy a broader range of

470
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:42,400
the spectrum than any other birds do. And what's even more amazing, though,

471
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:46,760
is that that spectrum goes beyond the
colors that we humans can see.

472
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:52,559
We only have three kinds of visual
pigments in our eyes. Hummingbirds have four,

473
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:57,800
and they can see they can see
colors into what we consider the ultra

474
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:04,400
violet, into what we consider the
intra red. They have incredible color discrimination.

475
00:37:04,559 --> 00:37:07,639
So it kind of makes sense that
ViRGE in general, but humming birds

476
00:37:07,639 --> 00:37:13,559
in particular, would have these incredible
ranges of color within their plumage. But

477
00:37:13,639 --> 00:37:19,880
hummingbirds with their mastuator doesn't. They've
locked up the title of the most colorful

478
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,840
birds on Earth. Well, they're
the only green bird we have here in

479
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:27,760
the North. That's one thing that
I've eard green bird, which I think

480
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,159
says a lot. You know,
we have a rainbow of everything else.

481
00:37:30,199 --> 00:37:32,079
We got our cardinals, we got
our orioles, we got a lot of

482
00:37:32,159 --> 00:37:37,119
yellow, But they're really the only
true green bird that's not waterfowl that we

483
00:37:37,159 --> 00:37:42,199
can enjoy here in the North.
Yeah, green is kind of a hard

484
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,800
color to produce. It, So
for most birds, green has to a

485
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:52,480
combination of a structural blue color combined
with the yellow pigments and the things you

486
00:37:52,679 --> 00:37:58,440
female painted burning for example, have
that green jay down in South Texas and

487
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,079
into the tropics of that. But
most birds produce those greens, if they

488
00:38:02,119 --> 00:38:07,639
have greens at all, by iridescent, and often they're dark greens or more

489
00:38:07,679 --> 00:38:10,920
subtle greens like what's the green and
a green wind field for example. But

490
00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,280
the humming birds, of course,
most of our hummingbirds in North America have

491
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:20,360
green on them somewhere. That's one
of the common questions we did about hummingbird

492
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:22,599
at indication is I saw this hummingbird
in my arts and they had a green

493
00:38:22,639 --> 00:38:29,079
back. What kind was it?
That doesn't narrow it down much? But

494
00:38:29,159 --> 00:38:32,639
green, of course makes perfect sense
for a tiny little bird that has a

495
00:38:32,639 --> 00:38:37,119
lot of enemies, lots of things
like to eat hummingbirds from birds that prey

496
00:38:37,159 --> 00:38:39,480
on other birds and mammals that prey
on other birds, and snakes and stuff

497
00:38:39,679 --> 00:38:45,719
all the way to some large insects, things like praying mand it's like to

498
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:50,599
prey on hummingbirds as well, so
that green color helps it camouflage them when

499
00:38:50,679 --> 00:38:57,280
they're not trying to be conspicuous like
males in their courtship display in your studies,

500
00:38:57,559 --> 00:39:00,760
Sherry, along that line in our
first segment, I mentioned that I

501
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:07,559
consider hummingbirds to be pugnacious or feisty
or shippy, and of course the amazing

502
00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:13,000
bills on these birds. Can those
bills do physical damage? In other words,

503
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,679
you know, when when they're fighting, is it just belligerent posturing or

504
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:22,599
are they actually doing physical damage?
Some of that depends on the species of

505
00:39:22,679 --> 00:39:28,719
hummingbird we're talking about. That bill
is its main purpose, of course,

506
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:34,920
is to probe flowers to extract necker
and it's full of nerve endings and blood

507
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,519
vessels. It's not just like a
young foothpeck or something on the front of

508
00:39:37,519 --> 00:39:44,840
their head. It's full of living
tissue and very very sensitive. So it's

509
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,679
a little problematic to use something like
that as a weapon. However, there

510
00:39:47,679 --> 00:39:52,960
are a few tropical hummingbirds that have
some adaptations that make their that weaponize those

511
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:58,239
food probes. Basically, some of
the hermit humming birds, the male have

512
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,239
sharp little hooks on the tips of
the built and they'll use those to rip

513
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:07,800
feathers out of each other. They
will sometimes poke each other and inflect minor

514
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:12,320
stab wounds, not like you know, piercing somebody with a rapier or something,

515
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,320
but they can do some damage with
those buildings. Only sometimes when we're

516
00:40:16,079 --> 00:40:21,480
when I'm handling humming bird as we're
banding humming birds during the studies with the

517
00:40:21,519 --> 00:40:28,079
Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory, which are
license permitted by the Bird Banding Laboratory of

518
00:40:28,079 --> 00:40:34,920
the US Geological Service, sometimes I'll
come pollen birds that have conspicuous bruises or

519
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:37,880
a little bits of form skin on
their chips. Not very often, but

520
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,280
most of the damage they do is
just ripping feathers out of each other.

521
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:50,599
But it certainly is a possibility now
down there in southeast southeastern Arizona. How

522
00:40:50,639 --> 00:40:57,679
many species of hummingbird are you able
to enjoy? We have fifteen species on

523
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,760
a semi regular to very regular basis. We've got about a half dozen breeding

524
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:07,159
species that are quite common and widespread. Uh and a few others that are

525
00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:13,000
are you know, less common,
much less common. But if you know

526
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,199
the place to find them, you
can find them. And then we also

527
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:19,039
have lots of migrants. It's one
of the special things about being where we

528
00:41:19,119 --> 00:41:23,320
are is that we're we're in that
zone where Mexico meets the US, where

529
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:27,880
the north meets to the south,
where the tropics meet the temperate zone.

530
00:41:28,079 --> 00:41:31,639
Also where the mountains meets the desert, where are real crossroads of geography and

531
00:41:32,119 --> 00:41:38,400
and habitat. So we get you
know, rufus and coliope hummingbirds as migrants

532
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:44,679
we cashunk at Allen's coming over from
California. But we have as breeding birds

533
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:49,039
we've got and as in coasters and
black tenned and broad builds and broad tails,

534
00:41:49,079 --> 00:41:52,360
and ribbles and blue sort of mountain
gyms, occasionally white eared humming bird

535
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:58,880
occasionally barrely humming. Now I have
a question. So here in the north,

536
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,199
where we really only have room throats, we and my mom has noticed

537
00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:06,800
this too. My mom learn appreciate, learn my appreciation of hummingbirds. For

538
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,760
my mom and my grandparents, so
they tend to be very, very territorial

539
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:16,320
and like you would not. It's
very rare that I would see two retirated

540
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:21,239
hummingbirds on any of my feeders at
any one time, Like it just doesn't

541
00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:24,519
happen, Like they perch and wait
to chase each other away. But you

542
00:42:24,559 --> 00:42:29,159
can look, you know, on
YouTube or Instagram or anywhere and see these

543
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:34,480
videos coming from California, from Arizona
of multiple you know, hummingbirds just mobbing

544
00:42:34,639 --> 00:42:37,719
feeders and mobbing yards. And is
that a matter of different species? Is

545
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:40,679
it just that they are more comfortable
there, there's less competition for food.

546
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:47,800
What explains that of actually a lot
of that and the more competition for food

547
00:42:49,199 --> 00:42:52,920
because when food is scarce, we
do see hummingbirds coming to feeders in a

548
00:42:52,960 --> 00:43:00,000
lot larger numbers and being more tolerant
of one another. Oh interesting. Yeah.

549
00:43:00,119 --> 00:43:04,639
One of the most amazing spectacles of
hummingbird feeding that I ever saw,

550
00:43:05,119 --> 00:43:08,679
just in the fact that it was
this real peaceable kingdom situation was in New

551
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:14,480
Mexico at the world famous busket Alipachi
National Wildlife Refuge. It was a summer

552
00:43:14,599 --> 00:43:19,639
visit during the breeding season for their
resident blackchin hummingbirds, and it was a

553
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:23,039
very dry year, really drought stricken
area. Everything was brown and dry,

554
00:43:23,639 --> 00:43:29,159
not a lot of flower next for
the birds, so they were depending Even

555
00:43:29,199 --> 00:43:32,960
though the marshes and water impoundments that
Busky provide a lot of insects for the

556
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:38,599
birds to eat, they were depending
on feeders for their sugar, for the

557
00:43:39,119 --> 00:43:45,840
energy from the sugar to help power
their very active lifestyle. For especially for

558
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:50,360
the females as they were nesting and
their feeders. At the visitors center at

559
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:54,079
Bosky, there were often a dozen
or more birds around each feeder. There

560
00:43:54,079 --> 00:43:58,280
were birds that were sitting next to
one another feeding out of the same feeder

561
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:00,559
port, and sometimes a third bird
would come in from above to feed.

562
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:06,280
Wow, these were These were all
females, so they were getting along a

563
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:12,760
lot better than the male and the
most important thing for each of them,

564
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,440
since each of them had young ones
depending on them, the most important thing

565
00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:19,840
for them was to get that energy, get back to that nest and take

566
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:22,880
care of their kids. They didn't
have time for fighting. No time for

567
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:27,920
fighting. You will see during migration. You will see the females whos pugnacious

568
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:31,360
and ferrocious to the males. But
a lot of that territoriality breaks down when

569
00:44:32,159 --> 00:44:37,159
resources are scarce. Everybody's dependent on
the same narrow range of resources, and

570
00:44:37,199 --> 00:44:43,519
everybody's got that very important business of
getting the kids bed and pledged and out

571
00:44:43,559 --> 00:44:45,639
on their own. Now I have
that reminded me another question I have.

572
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:51,480
So, when hummingbirds have young in
the nest, are they feeding them on

573
00:44:51,679 --> 00:44:54,480
nectar that they're just like storing somewhere
in their mouths or beaks, or do

574
00:44:54,519 --> 00:44:59,519
they collect insects for their young?
How are they getting food back to their

575
00:44:59,559 --> 00:45:05,320
young? It's both, and like
other birds, hummingbirds carry their well,

576
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,920
most of the birds carry their food
in their crop, which is an expandable

577
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:15,840
part of their esophagus. It performs
the storage function of our own stomachs,

578
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:20,440
but it kind of keeps the food
outside the bird's main body, so it

579
00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:27,119
serves a little bit different different anatomical
function in that it's hanging off the bird's

580
00:45:27,199 --> 00:45:30,639
neck. Basically, if you've ever
seen pictures of African vultures around a zebra

581
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:35,480
kill or something, you see this
big, fleshy looking bulge on their necks.

582
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:38,119
That's the crop where the food is
stored before it goes down into the

583
00:45:38,119 --> 00:45:43,519
gizzard and gets processed and ground up
and then into the intestines. Where all

584
00:45:43,559 --> 00:45:47,559
the nutrients are extracted. So when
we are looking at these breeding female hummingbirds,

585
00:45:49,079 --> 00:45:52,920
they will have often very distended crops, and those crops will be full

586
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,559
of insects, but there will also
often be nextor in there as well.

587
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:59,519
A lot of it depends on what
stage their babies are at. When the

588
00:45:59,519 --> 00:46:02,880
babies are very small, they mostly
need the nutrition that they're going to get

589
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:08,639
from insects and spiders and other animal
foods. They've got to have the proteins,

590
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:14,760
the minerals to build their strong bones. All those little micronutrients of various

591
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:19,719
kinds, the amino acids and all
of that vitamins and all that have to

592
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:22,639
be in their food, their baby
food essentially, so for them to grow

593
00:46:22,679 --> 00:46:25,960
on and they grow so rapidly,
they need a lot. But if they

594
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,639
get bigger and their little wings start
to develop, they start to grow on

595
00:46:30,679 --> 00:46:34,239
their wings and start flapping their wings
so they can strengthen their muscles and grow

596
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:37,440
their muscles to make it possible for
them to take that first light. Mom

597
00:46:37,559 --> 00:46:42,480
is giving them more and more nectar
to provide that sugar energy that they need

598
00:46:43,039 --> 00:46:47,920
to power that increase metabolis. During
that later stage of nestling period. We're

599
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:53,719
chatting with Sherry Williamson. She is
the author of a Peterson Field Guide to

600
00:46:53,800 --> 00:47:00,280
Hummingbirds of North America and at the
Ash Canyon Birdsanctuary. I want to ask

601
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:06,320
you about that bird sanctuary, Sherry, But prior to that, Stacey had

602
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:13,199
mentioned the ruby throated hummingbirds here along
the lake shore in West Michigan. Of

603
00:47:13,199 --> 00:47:17,119
course, I enjoy a number of
them in my landscape. I've always had

604
00:47:17,159 --> 00:47:24,119
this imagination in fall of them migrating
and traveling over the Gulf of Mexico,

605
00:47:24,559 --> 00:47:30,679
and I've often wondered is that true? Are they traveling across that large expanse

606
00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:34,719
of water to get to where they
need to go, or do they hug

607
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:38,119
the shoreline? Have any studies been
done on that? Well, you know,

608
00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:45,800
actually the best information we have on
that is from just everyday folks that

609
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:52,440
are contributing their sightings to the e
Bird database. E Bird is a project

610
00:47:52,639 --> 00:48:00,519
of the cornellab of Ornithology and a
number of other organizations cooling their resource to

611
00:48:00,559 --> 00:48:06,159
create this database that ordinary citizens,
scientists are or community scientists can contribute their

612
00:48:06,159 --> 00:48:12,599
sightings to. And when you look
at those at those sightings, the Cornell

613
00:48:12,639 --> 00:48:20,119
has literally they've literally mapped the sidings
on a date basis, and you can

614
00:48:20,159 --> 00:48:24,480
actually watch an animation on their website
showing how the birds migrate, and you

615
00:48:24,519 --> 00:48:29,440
can see that, in fact,
a long standing idea that they were migrating

616
00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:34,360
both directions across the Gulf of Mexico, that's not so much true. Most

617
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:39,199
of those birds that are coming south
in August September, they are coming around

618
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:43,119
the gulf, and there's a number
of good reasons for them to do that,

619
00:48:43,159 --> 00:48:47,400
including hurricanes and just the fact that
the Tan Peninsula is kind of a

620
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:51,880
narrow target for them to hit as
they come across, whereas when they're coming

621
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:54,519
north in the spring, they can
hop from the Yucatan right across and hit

622
00:48:54,599 --> 00:49:00,639
land wherever they go. But that's
been more of the tremendous values of having

623
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:06,119
just you know, average birders out
there in their backyards or out on trails

624
00:49:06,119 --> 00:49:10,559
in the nearby park, or on
vacation in places like southeastern Arizona reporting their

625
00:49:10,639 --> 00:49:15,960
sightings to Eberts, so that we
have all of that information that we can

626
00:49:15,039 --> 00:49:21,840
map and learn more about the travels
of birds, what habitats are important to

627
00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:24,880
them at different times of year,
and just better understand, and so we

628
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:30,360
have a better chance of making sure
that they continue on to prosper in the

629
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:34,400
future. And I would imagine that
a lot of that information that we are

630
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:42,159
finding out from things like eBird is
creating both opportunity and problems for your new

631
00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:47,480
edition of the Field Guide. Oh
here, right about that? Holy motion,

632
00:49:49,639 --> 00:49:54,480
Oh man. That that's something that
I spend an awful lot of time

633
00:49:54,559 --> 00:49:59,199
looking at the photos that are submitted
to Eberts. Of course, not not

634
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:02,840
every every fighting that's submitted to Ebert
has to be accompanied by a photo,

635
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:08,599
but where folks have submitted photos to
Ebert, it's very very good information for

636
00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:13,599
me because I can go in,
For example, any bird that's difficult to

637
00:50:13,679 --> 00:50:15,719
identify, I can go in and
if a picture's been submitted, I can

638
00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:21,719
look at that picture. Sometimes I
even I can't tell, but sometimes I

639
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:25,280
can see that it's not what they
thought it was, and I can contact

640
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:30,480
the folks who manage that database and
they can reassign that bird to a different

641
00:50:30,519 --> 00:50:34,920
species. Give the bad news to
the person who reported that. Actually sometimes

642
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:37,559
it's good news. Actually in California, they had little birds that they thought

643
00:50:37,639 --> 00:50:43,639
was a coast of something birds visiting
a cemetery in a park near the coast,

644
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:45,760
and it turned out that little bird
was a ruby throted and they got

645
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:51,280
very excited about it, because any
ruby throated in California is definitely cause for

646
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:58,360
celebration. Sure, wow, Sherry, can I visit Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary?

647
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:01,400
Just take a moment to describe it
lovely, We would love to have

648
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:09,440
you visit sometimes. Ash Canyon Bird
Sanctuary was the dream and the home of

649
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:15,480
our late friends married Joe Ballatore.
Mary Joe was a passionate gardener. She

650
00:51:15,639 --> 00:51:21,519
and her ex husband had landscaping business
together. She was, like me,

651
00:51:21,840 --> 00:51:28,119
an enthusiast of Salvians. She and
I bonded over our mutual love of Salvians,

652
00:51:28,559 --> 00:51:30,920
but we also a loted over our
mutual love of birds as well.

653
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:37,199
In two thousand and two, she
opened her yards to the public. This

654
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:43,519
is a long standing tradition here in
Arizona. It's unusual for people to open

655
00:51:43,519 --> 00:51:46,679
their yard to burgers to come and
just sit in their yard and watch their

656
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:52,320
birds, but a few very generous
individuals have done so, including Mary Joe,

657
00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:59,639
and she unfortunately, she cared for
her garden and posted thousands and thousands

658
00:51:59,639 --> 00:52:04,159
of Burger from two thousand and two
until the spring of twenty nineteen when she

659
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:12,039
passed away very sob and of course
we were all devastated, but unfortunately her

660
00:52:12,079 --> 00:52:15,679
friends rallied in one of her dearest
friends, Tony Batiste, who runs a

661
00:52:15,679 --> 00:52:22,559
little bed and breakfast nearby and another
canyon nearby. He was determined not to

662
00:52:22,639 --> 00:52:29,239
allow her property to just be sold
off and the welcome matt taken in and

663
00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:32,800
the theaters taken down, but to
preserve it, to keep her dream alive.

664
00:52:34,599 --> 00:52:37,320
And thanks to Tony and his connections, we were able to get a

665
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:45,239
substantial donation from the Molina family in
California that allowed us to purchase her property,

666
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:51,440
her six point one nine acres of
Kenyon Habitat and her home and her

667
00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:55,760
gardens and keep it open to the
public, to the birding public. And

668
00:52:55,880 --> 00:53:01,079
since that time we've had so much
support from the birding community and other nature

669
00:53:01,079 --> 00:53:07,800
lovers, providing us with donations that
have helped us to add things that Mary

670
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:12,480
Joe would love to have had during
her tenures there. We have added rainwater

671
00:53:12,559 --> 00:53:16,079
harvesting. We as much as possible
in this very dry climate. We irrigate

672
00:53:16,119 --> 00:53:21,480
the gardens with rainwater through a drift
system. We added a pond which is

673
00:53:21,599 --> 00:53:27,079
now home to four different endangered species, one plant and three animals too fish

674
00:53:27,079 --> 00:53:31,280
in a front. We have expanded
the feeding operation. We have replaced a

675
00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:37,119
lot of the flowers of the plants
that had died in Mary Joe's garden during

676
00:53:37,199 --> 00:53:40,440
the time between her passing and the
time we were able to take over ownership

677
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:44,760
and management. That was quite a
job in itself, just removing a lot

678
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,920
of invasic plants that had taken over
the garden, and then you know,

679
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:52,239
I'm doing triage the plants that hadn't
survived, getting them out of the ground,

680
00:53:53,079 --> 00:53:57,480
getting new plants in the ground,
managing to go for population has been

681
00:53:57,559 --> 00:54:05,599
quite a seat. Joe's took a
very live and let live attitude towards the

682
00:54:05,639 --> 00:54:12,800
wildlife in her garden, and while
she did obviously take steps to manage the

683
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:17,760
damage that the wildlife did to her
plants, her beautiful plants, she was

684
00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:22,440
not the kind of person that would
put out poisons and lethal traps and things

685
00:54:22,519 --> 00:54:27,039
like that. So we have been
taking that same philosophy to heart and using

686
00:54:27,119 --> 00:54:30,960
repellents and sensing wire baskets keep the
overs to meet the reef systems things like

687
00:54:31,039 --> 00:54:37,000
that. So it's been quite an
adventure restoring her gardens, but we get

688
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:43,800
thousands of visitors every year from all
over the world enjoying that same hospitality that

689
00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:49,079
Mary Joe establishes as her tradition,
carrying on her legacy and just trying to

690
00:54:49,119 --> 00:54:53,440
expand her vision, trying to invite
more pollinators of cordiverse species to visit the

691
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:59,360
property. Planning more native plants very
very important for supporting our native pollinators,

692
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:02,039
including the say, you know,
butterflies and other insects. It's very important

693
00:55:02,039 --> 00:55:07,840
to have their large food plants.
So we're expanding within within Mary Joe's vision.

694
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:12,599
We're keeping her beautiful salvia garden and
even adding new varieties to her salvia

695
00:55:12,639 --> 00:55:16,840
gardens, but also adding in more
flowering plants and more different species to attract

696
00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:22,440
more different kinds of pollinators to the
gardens. You know, Sherry, listening

697
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:27,000
to you talk from you know,
the beginning of our conversation, it really

698
00:55:27,119 --> 00:55:30,960
is amazing how much of a difference
individuals can make. And you know,

699
00:55:31,119 --> 00:55:36,000
whether it's the citizen science aspect or
you know, all of these volunteers coming

700
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:39,079
together to keep this you know,
beautiful Sanctuary. It really is what you

701
00:55:39,119 --> 00:55:45,039
said that hummingbirds are the gateway,
the gateway drug to conservation and you know,

702
00:55:45,119 --> 00:55:50,280
really to a better world. And
it's I think that your story has

703
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:54,239
has really made that vivid and clear
for our listeners. I couldn't agree more

704
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:58,960
with this stacy. And you know, the one of the things that that

705
00:55:59,119 --> 00:56:05,320
we do try to emphasize passively and
actively with our work at Ashton and Bird

706
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:10,639
Sanctuary is that pretty much anybody anywhere, with any outdoor space, even if

707
00:56:10,639 --> 00:56:17,239
it's an apartment balcony, you can
contribute to wildlife conservation just by planting a

708
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:22,760
few plants, put a few pots
on your on your patio or your balcony.

709
00:56:22,039 --> 00:56:25,800
If you have space to garden.
Even if you're a more traditional gardener

710
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:31,760
who's gardening the more traditional vegetables or
ornamentals that you know most of us expect

711
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:36,760
to find in an average garden,
you can tuck a few hummingbird friendly plants

712
00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:38,880
in there. You can tuck you
in a few food plants for the butterflies,

713
00:56:39,119 --> 00:56:45,400
for both nectar and the larva.
Anybody can help you. There's a

714
00:56:45,559 --> 00:56:50,159
there's a new concept out there.
I forget what they're calling it. But

715
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:55,639
basically it's it's like having a national
park all over the country that consists of

716
00:56:55,719 --> 00:57:04,920
little pocket habitats, mean little backyard. Every little patio can have something that's

717
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:09,639
beneficial to wildlife, and each of
us can ensure that at least some wild

718
00:57:09,679 --> 00:57:14,920
species in process. There's not much
that you and I can do to help

719
00:57:15,159 --> 00:57:22,119
blue whales or elephants, or mountain
gorillas or tigers, but we can help

720
00:57:22,239 --> 00:57:28,679
those wild species that visit our neighborhoods
in our backyard. Steph won, of

721
00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:32,239
course, is to be an organic
gardener, to be very very judicious about

722
00:57:32,280 --> 00:57:37,599
the kind of pest control you use. Don't use drug spectrum pesticides, US

723
00:57:37,719 --> 00:57:45,679
targeted focused remedies for things like aphids
and caterpillars and grubs and things like that.

724
00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:50,159
There are all kinds of things that
you can use that are not deadly

725
00:57:50,199 --> 00:57:52,039
to other species, that are just
going to take care of your one problem.

726
00:57:53,079 --> 00:57:59,280
Or use barriers as much as you
can, like our Cophra pacis and

727
00:58:00,079 --> 00:58:07,880
talents. I'm working on a proprietary
gopher repellent uh uh uh is that which

728
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:15,199
is brew of all kinds of aromatic
caienne, pepper, castor oil like but

729
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:20,840
that's important. Thing is working without
us having to kill any gophers, That's

730
00:58:20,880 --> 00:58:24,280
what's important. Uh. And just
make sure that that you are are planning

731
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:30,280
to write things in the right ways
to help bring in the beneficial wildlife while

732
00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:35,079
minimizing your conflicts with wildlife. Salvias
are one of those great plants for that,

733
00:58:35,159 --> 00:58:39,519
because those aromatic compounds that make salvia
such wonderful plants, and culinarily,

734
00:58:39,719 --> 00:58:45,280
you know, our culinary stage is
as salvia. Uh, those kinds of

735
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:50,760
those kinds of of natural chemical defenses
are actually pretty good for deterring things like

736
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:55,159
deer and squirrels. So keeping those
things in mind and doing companion plantings of

737
00:58:55,519 --> 00:59:00,519
some of those kind of spooky plants
tritters don't like to eat, fear more

738
00:59:00,519 --> 00:59:04,440
desirable plans that they do like to
eat. That can be a great way

739
00:59:04,519 --> 00:59:07,679
to diversify your garden, make it
more valuable to wildlife. And then am

740
00:59:07,679 --> 00:59:12,360
I as your conflicts with wildlife as
well. Well. We love it and

741
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:15,239
we are going to put links to
Ash Canyon and all of your other projects

742
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:19,679
on our website. Guardening Simplified on
Air, so if anybody does happen to

743
00:59:19,679 --> 00:59:22,519
be heading to southeastern Arizona, they
can come and see the good work that

744
00:59:22,559 --> 00:59:25,119
you are doing there. We want
to thank you so very much for joining

745
00:59:25,239 --> 00:59:29,440
us today. You shared so much
great information and I know I'm really inspired.

746
00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:31,480
I can't wait to get home and
u and watch for having me wonderful

747
00:59:31,519 --> 00:59:37,159
to hear. I hope all your
readers are inspired because together we can make

748
00:59:37,199 --> 00:59:40,519
it different. Thank you both so
much for having me on. It's been

749
00:59:40,639 --> 00:59:45,599
a delight. Thanks Sherry, Thank
you, Sherry, A pleasure. Well,

750
00:59:45,639 --> 00:59:49,239
you know what, that's what gardening
simplified is all about doing things that

751
00:59:49,320 --> 00:59:52,199
are good for you and good for
wildlife and doing it simply so that was

752
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:57,159
inspirational. It definitely was. So
thank you to Sherry, Thank you Rick,

753
00:59:57,199 --> 00:59:59,559
and of course thanks to Adriana,
and thank you so much to all

754
00:59:59,599 --> 01:00:01,559
of you for listening. Hope you're
inspired to do something in your garden.

755
01:00:01,559 --> 01:00:08,159
It's a little bit better for wildlife.