WEBVTT

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Coming to you from Studio A Here
at proven winner's color choice Shrubs. It's

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time for the Gardening Simplified Radio YouTube
and podcast show with Stacy Hervella, me,

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Rick Weist, and our engineer and
producer Adrianna Robinson. Like all birds,

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hummingbirds have basic habitat requirements including food, water, shelter, and space

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to forge and breed in order to
thrive. And we all love to see

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hummingbirds playing in our yards and our
landscape and our space, and we want

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to try to attract these. I'm
going to call them pugnacious birds, small

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but packing a punch. It's no
stretch that synonyms for pugnacious are fitting bellicos,

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chippy, feisty, even gladiatorial when
in Rome do as the Romans do,

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and Stacy, they are evidence,
however, that there is a direct

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correlation between the health and diversity of
your landscape in the wildlife that it attracts.

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I love that. That's always good
to hear. Beautiful and colorful.

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Coming up on today's show suggested hummingbird
attracting plants and interviews with nationally recognized hummingbird

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experts Alan Shartier and Sherry Williamson author
of a field guide to hummingbirds of North

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America with us on our liveline to
kick things off is our very own birdman,

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Bill Stovell. And Bill, we've
talked recently about bird houses and nesting

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and that sort of thing. But
hummingbirds aren't necessarily interested in a house.

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They like to live out on the
limb and their travelers, aren't they.

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That's a fact. Yes, they
make a little nest up on a flat

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spot on a limb, off and
on a white, fine limb before I've

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seen them, and they're the prettiest
little nests. They just a little tiny

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thing. They make them out of
fighter webs and out of lichens and out

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of little bits of fluff they find. And the inside of the nests is

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about the size of a quarter.
Wow, really small. Yeah, you're

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so right, Bill, because I
had read somewhere the eggs of the hummingbird

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are no bigger than let's say,
the size of a navy bean. And

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that soft, almost expandable nest using
spider webs lichens, as Bill had mentioned,

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Stacy, I think many people have
never seen a hummingbird nest. Well,

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they're deliberately, very careful about where
they put it. Because they are

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so little and they don't have a
lot of defenses, so they're not going

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to you know, dive bomb you
like the famous red wing blackbirds of Grand

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Rapids defending their nest. You know, so they need to be very sneaky

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about it. Oh, and talk
about travel bill migration. You take the

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ruby throat at hummingbird found in the
Eastern US crossing the Gulf of Mexico every

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year. You know, it migrates
between overwintering sites in central Mexico and summer

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breeding grounds in the Eastern US.
And then you take the rufous hummingbird that

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travels thousands of miles and I mean
thousands of miles. Think about over wintering

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in Mexico and spending your summers in
Alaska. Unbelievable the territory these birds cover.

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That's amazing too. You know,
they binge before they go. They

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double their weight, wow, so
that they have enough energy to make it

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go. They just eat and eat
and eat, and all of a sudden,

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they can fly those long distances without
stopping. Wow. So they fly

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without stopping, so they don't you
know, stop in southern California or the

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flower fields of central California for a
little break on the way. Oh they

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could, I mean they don't.
They're not starved. I've got plenty of

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energy to get there. That's amazing. You know. One interesting thing I've

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observed with the hummingbirds is that they
of course feed by day on nectar from

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flowers. So we're talking about annuals
and perennials, tree shrubs, vines,

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but also insects are important to hummingbirds, fruit flies, gnats. I've even

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heard of hummingbirds consuming tree sap am, I correct in that bird man.

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A good portion of the of the
protein they get is from the insects,

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so there's a big factor. Thirty
to forty percent of their diet is little

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insects. But all your plants,
of course attract all these little insects too.

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You look at the data on hummingbirds
and how fast their heart races and

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their wings flap. They have to
have some high energy fuel to be able

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to function well. They have to
have high energy fuel because it seems to

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me at times they only eat so
they can get enough energy to fight off

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their predators or other predators. But
they're competitors, they're each other, right,

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I mean, they pack a lot
of rage into those little bodies.

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Yes, they do pugnacious right.
The best way to support hummingbirds and other

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pollinators in your area, of course, is to plant nectar plants. But

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this is interesting. Some scientists suggest
the presence of feeders may impact natural pollination

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of plants alter hummingbird behavior. There
are other people who say, no,

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no, no, no. Feeders
help bolster hummingbird populations by counteracting the loss

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of forage and habitat caused by human
activity. I guess there's some debate on

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this matter. I mean camp number
two very strongly, because when the hummingbirds

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come back, sometimes there isn't enough
blossom availability, but they can start with

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sugar water until the insects increase and
the flowers increase to maintain their their their

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health. So it's it's a it's
a twofold area and it's so simple.

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And it's also helped people recogni the
birds and have the entertainment of having them

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in their side yard in front of
the window, and that encourages them to

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plant things that will keep them in
the yard. No, absolutely, you

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know, seeing them and starting to
appreciate them really is the first step to

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you know, conservation and making sure
that you are doing the right thing.

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And you know, I find I
have a combination of both as well.

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I have a lot of plants that
attract hummingbirds through in bloom you know,

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from spring until fall, and a
bunch of feeders. And I'll tell you,

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when they visit the yard, they
make use of both. They're not

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just like one or the other.
They're they're browsing the buffet, they're coming

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up to the dessert table. They're
doing it all. Yeah, And if

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you think about it, we talked
about diversity in the landscape. Sure,

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nectar flowers in the landscape, but
they want trees in order to build their

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nests. There's certain plants that they
want to help build their nests, like

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lambs eer is a plant in the
landscape that I've heard hummingbirds use. So,

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again, build diversity in the landscape
is pro probably going to help attract

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these these beautiful birds to your yard. That's a fact. Now, this

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this is an international show. So
the ruby throats are basically east of the

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Mississippi, but there are fifteen species
west of the Mississippi, particularly in the

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Southwest, and there are places that
there are centers where they just put up

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these these beautiful gardens and these sugar
water feeders, and they just flooded with

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many species of the huntingbird at the
same time. It's amazing many different species.

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You are correct, and we'll talk
to Sherry Williamson about that also,

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Birdman in summer. Sometimes people will
send me pictures or video of this cool

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hummingbird that they saw in their landscape
and reality it wasn't a hummingbird at all.

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It was a moth right at think
spot. Yes, they're a wonderful

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little thing. They're gorgeous and that
will show up and they're just they just

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buzz around and they're just studis can
be so, but they're they're not a

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bird, no, but they can. You know, I have I am.

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I feel like I'm a good bird
observer, and I have been momentarily

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thrown by a clear wing mouth or
sphinx moth because they they kind of hover

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in browse plants and of course the
same plants the hummingbirds would in the same

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way. And you know, you
you you experienced that with the right person,

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They're not even going to believe you
that it wasn't a bird bird.

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Well, there they're the ecological gap
between hummers are the gap between birds and

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bees because they do an awful lot
of pollinating while they're doing the getting their

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staff. Definitely, absolutely, absolutely
birdman. As I mentioned coming up on

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the show Sherry Williamson and the North
American Guide to Hummingbirds Peterson's Guide. You

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had a chance to meet mister Peterson, Yeah, more than once, and

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he was a very high energy guy, a big man, and just bubbled

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with enthusiasm. He's a fabulous artist
and his research on his first first book,

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which was nineteen forty nineteen thirty nine, nineteen forty seven, nineteen sixty

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seven, was the original Bible of
birding, and it had a lot to

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do and there was a lot about
hummingbirds in that. So it's easy to

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say he was one of your inspirations
as a birder, as a naturalist,

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as somebody who enjoys and loves conservation
in the landscape, probably one of your

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influences. Well, I grew up
in Western New York, which is real

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close to Cornell, and we had
a lot of Cornell people, and he

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was from Chautauqua Lake, an area, and it was kind of a birding

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center where I came from, and
so it was a lot of fun to.

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I have several monitaris there in my
Hamburg, New York area to help

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me on its path. So I've
been doing birding ever since I've a little

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kid. That's fantastic bird man.
We appreciate you, thanks for getting us

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started. Today it's going to be
the big humming Bird Show. And coming

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up next Stacey and I will share
with you some favorites that we use to

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attract hummingbirds to our landscape. That's
coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified

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Show. Proven Winners, Color Choice
Shrubs cares about your success in the garden.

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That's why we trial and test all
of our shrubs for eight to ten

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years, making sure they outperform everything
else on the market. Look for them

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and the distinctive white container at your
local garden center. Greetings, gardening friends,

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and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified
Show, The Hummingbirds Simpler Show.

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If you can simplify them, they
are quite complex and fascinating creatures. And

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you know, I think one thing
that is truly amazing about hummingbirds that a

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lot of people don't realize is that
they are only found in the Americas.

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So if you are abroad, if
you're in another country, you will not

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see hummingbirds. Interest. There are
some similar ish birds in other tropical countries,

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but for the most part, they
are uniquely ours. And they're one

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of those plants that if you ever
are looking at like birding groups online on

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Facebook or forums, you know,
that's like when people from Europe come to

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the US, that's what they hope
to see is a hummingbird. Lucky us,

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right, and they have starlings.
We have humming birds, right,

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So like the ruby throated hummingbird for
us is just like, you know,

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such a lifer for them, such
a bird that they would truly desire to

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see. And so I always think, you know, especially in later summer

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when they're going bananas in my yard, just like, oh, if only

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one of those people could just like
come in here and just see how wonderful

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they are. And so I think
it's important that we don't lose sight of

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how amazing it is that we have
them, especially in the north. You

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know. It's one thing. Of
course, in the southwest, where the

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climate is much more amenable with year
round food, we don't have that.

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But it is plants on trial.
So of course we're talking about plants and

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hummingbirds, and I grow a huge
diversity of plants. I mean, one

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of my main criteria for adding a
plant to my garden is does it,

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you know, somehow support intacts or
birds, and so a lot of plants

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that I happen to have do.
Actually, So I've seen the hummingbirds recently

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visiting my nepada. My cat's me
out epaa. They are loving that,

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sampling all sorts of other things.
All my annuals I specifically buy for hummingbirds.

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So yeah, that's me. That's
a good way to like get money's

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worth out of them. And again
diversity. Yeah, this morning, Yes,

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I saw hummingbirds at my nepotas in
the backyards. Yeah, they're having

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a gradile. They're they eat hugara. They feed on hucraa flowers, which

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a lot of people, you know, they think kukraa, oh that foliage

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plant if you have a good one
for flowering. They love the flowers on

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yukra. And I didn't believe that
would be the case since they're so close

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to the ground, you know,
the hugra of flowers. But I have

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seen it myself and I can attest
and you know, when I was thinking

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about what plants are put on trial
today. I had a couple. I

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mean, we have many different shrubs
that attract hummingbirds and sustain hummingbirds through the

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season. But I was thinking about
an experience I had two weeks ago.

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I was staying with some friends in
ann Arbor, and they have a kind

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of a unique landscape where their house
is like a split level and so you

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look down onto sort of a cavernous
driveway and they have all these cascading plants

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coming over their driveway. And I
was looking out the window and there were

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some wigilla down there that were absolutely
mobbed with hummingbirds. Now that shouldn't really

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be surprising because waijilla have all the
trademark characteristics of being a good hummingbird food

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plant, trumpet shaped flowers, that
kind of pink red color family typically,

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although there are some white varieties out
there, but I had never really seen

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them like making so much use out
of the whitejela. And I thought,

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I can see it, Yeah,
I can see it. And I thought,

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well, why don't I have a
whitegela because this is kind of great.

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And when you are thinking about,
you know, adding a whitela,

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it's important to think about these spring
flowering plants, you know, like Birdman

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was just saying that you need to
have food sources for them from when they

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arrive in here in Michigan. That's
usually late April, like the last week

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of April or thereabouts, you know, and especially then it's important because it's

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cold and they need to refuel after
their long journey. So we need plants

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that, you know, sometimes all
the summer stuff gets all the credit,

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you know, like your canas of
course for us not blooming until summer.

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So it's really good when you're thinking
about this diversity. It's not just a

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diversity of plant types, it's a
diversity of bloom times. And for people

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keeping score at home, when I
drove up to the studio today, Stacey,

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the Woogella were just in full bloom
and gorgeous here in Michigan right now.

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Yeah, they are an absolute peak
bloom. And so there's such a

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great choice for that. And when
I was thinking about which of our white

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Gela is to put on trial today, I decided on snippet dark pink Whitjela,

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and I picked this one for two
main reasons. I mean, we've

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already established whyjela are great for hummingbirds. But I picked this particular one for

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two main reasons. Number one,
it is a reblooming why gula. Okay,

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so it's gonna bloom now along with
all the other white gela, and

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then it's gonna take a little bit
of a break and put on more new

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growth, and in that period,
as much new growth as it puts on,

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it will be able to create additional
flowers on to bloom throughout summer.

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Fabulous. So with reblooming whitedela like
Snippet dark Pink or Arsonic Bloom series,

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you're getting that much longer window of
a food source without really having to do

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anything or take up more space or
anything like that. So that's one thing

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I really like in terms of finding
a why igela to accommodate hummingbirds. And

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then the second one is, as
you may yes by that name Snippet dark

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pink, this is a very small
whitela, and some older wiglas they get

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really large, and so people I
think, you know a lot of times

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they have a nostalgic connection to Iigella, but they are thinking of like,

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you know, their gramma's wigelo and
they were growing up, which a They

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were probably like two and a half
feet tall at the time, so the

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things seemed extra big and be the
older varieties were legitimately quite large, large

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woody, flopping over intimidate right.
So snippet dark pink reaches just one to

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two feet tall and wide. So
this is a whigella that if you're looking

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for ways to attract hummingbirds and you're
short on space, so you have a

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condo, an apartment, a balcony, something like that, this is a

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plant that is going to take up
very little space but give you a lot

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of bang for your buck. And
of course the flowers have that nice dark

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pink color. We many of us
know that hummingbirds are more attracted to like

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the red dark pink color range,
although they're not particularly picky, you know.

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We were just talking about them being
on NEPAA, which is blue,

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bluish purple, and so it's a
great choice I think for all of those

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characteristics to just kind of tuck into
your gar and you want to put it

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in full sun like most way Gula
it is a full sun plant and then

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just sit back and watch the hummingbirds
come by. You sold me. I'm

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going to add snippet to my landscape. Now again, we've talked about this

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a number of times already today,
diversity and you know favorite hummingbird plants,

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would Youila, You're right, absolutely
has to be on that list. Do

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you have a couple of other really
go tos that you really think this one?

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I mean, I think Kufia is
one. Yeah, you know,

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I love my kufia, and vermillionaire
Cufia from proven Winters is one that I

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have to grow every year because of
the hummingbirds. You know, they don't

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so I put those right on either
side of my back door, and they

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don't tend to feed at them quite
a lot until later in the season and

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then they're just like you know,
they're just crazed for food. Sure,

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and so in that case then I
see them a lot. But it's still,

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you know, just because I don't
see them doesn't mean that they're not

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there. So cufias it must have
for me. Any kind of selvia,

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and I know you're a selvia person
too. Salvia big time. Looking forward

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to twenty twenty five unplugged red Salvia
dynamic cultivar of our native scarlet sage.

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Looking forward to this proven winner's plant
but any of the unplugged or rockin series

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of salvias from proven winners. And
then of course, yes, Stacy,

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I am the can of King and
canas are my go to for humming Well,

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you know, talk about a red
flowers. I mean there are cannons

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with other flowers, but the classic
one that you have, that red flower

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is irresistible to them, and it's
nice and tall, and I think that

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having that height difference, having a
lot of different heights is also good for

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them. I mean, I'm always
surprised to see them get so close to

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the ground, but you know they'll
be They're still going to be very cautious

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about predators or you know, anything
like that. So they do also tend

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to like plants that flower a little
bit higher in the sky. I am

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actually trying a new annual this year. I don't know if you're familiar with

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it, Hummingbird Falls Salvia. And
this is a what they're calling a hanging

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basket salvia. I've never grown up, so instead of growing up right like

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other salvia's, it's actually cascading and
so you do see it in hanging baskets.

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I did not get it in a
hanging basket I just got like a

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standalone one gallon that I'm going to
put into a container in my hummingbird garden.

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I'm very excited to try that.
And you know, this isn't a

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plant, but I have. I
did something almost life changing this week,

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and a small thing almost life changing. I can't yet speak to spreaking news

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simplified show let's hear it. I
can't yet speak to how it's gonna affect

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the humming birds. But my mom
was showing me this video of a woman

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who lives out in California and creates
all these wacky solar fountains for hummingbirds and

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they love to bathe in them.
And so I had this bird feeder or

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this bird bath that I loved,
but it was really deep and not convenient

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for the birds because it was too
deep. They couldn't get in it.

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I tried putting rocks, it was
a pain to clean. I bought a

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solar bird bath fountain, and all
you do is you fill up the bird

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bath and you put this thing in
there, and like even as soon as

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I took it outside, it's just
like it's like whoa son, I'm going

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It has all these different little nozzles
that you can put on it. It

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is amazing. Now. I just
put this up over the weekend last weekend,

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so right now. So I haven't
been able to say for sure because

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it takes them some time. And
this is true if you put up you

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know, a feeder or anything like
that, it takes some time to feel

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comfortable. Sure, they stake it
out for a bit first, but I'm

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pretty confident that this is going to
be a hummingbird game changer, and even

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if it isn't, honestly, it's
a lot of fun. We were playing

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around with the nozzles, changing them
out and as long as it's sunny,

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you're good to go. So between
the bird bath and the unplugged red salvia

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for twenty twenty five, wow,
Yeah, the game change decked out.

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It is getting decked out for the
hummingbirds. Yeah, and that's what I

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love too. And you know what, all of these things at the end

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of the day, they're good for
the hummingbirds, but they're good for you

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too, because it's great to just
have a lot of flowers in your yard,

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not just for the hummingbirds, but
for bees and other you know,

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insects and things that visit the garden
and and then your yard looks better and

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you feel like a garden rock star. So it's win win when it's just

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win all around. So whatever you
can do to improve your garden for hummingbirds,

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whether that is planting Snippet Dark Pink
Way Jela or one of the many

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Proven Winners annuals that sustain hummingbirds,
or maybe adding a solar fountain to an

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unused bird bath, it's all good. We're going to take a little break.

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When we come back, we have
got a guest, so please stay

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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

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00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:45.640
white containers have been trialed and tested
for your success. Look for them at

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00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:51.599
your local garden center. You know, I love my Cooper Million. It's

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our privilege. And Alan he is
the Michigan hummingbird guy. He's been interested

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in science and nature since he was
five years old and began bird watching when

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he was eleven, and now that
includes wow birding trips to twenty eight countries.

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Has birded in all fifty US states. Alan is an amazing photographer.

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He's been a bird bander since nineteen
ninety seven and a hummingbird bander since two

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thousand when he began the Great Lakes
Hummernet Research Project. Alan, it's a

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privilege and a pleasure to have you
on the Gardening Simplified Show. Well,

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thank you for inviting me. Alan. Can you start off by talking to

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our listeners and our viewers about bird
banding, specifically hummingbirds, why it's important

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and give us an idea of what
that process is like. Well, I'll

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try to be brief. Bird Banding
is a research tool that has been used

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for well over one hundred years guarded
with banding of waterfowl, and it helped

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to work out the migration corridors of
migrating ducks and geese, and the hunters

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would shoot the birds and the numbers
would get recorded, and so you'd find

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out where the bird was banded,
where it was shot, and pieced together

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their migration routes. It's come a
long way since then, but it still

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is basically an aluminum ring of band
placed on a bird's leg with a unique

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00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.920
number on it, so that when
it's found one way or another, either

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shot as in a duck or recaptured
as in maybe another hummingbird bander on the

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00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:45.960
Gulf Coast of Texas. That number
can be reported back to the US Geological

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Survey's bird banding Lab. And this
is a highly regulated activity that requires a

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lot of training. You have to
have valid research project in order to become

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a bird bander. And there are
probably the ducks and geese and things that's

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all kind of vn rs and fish
and wildlife does that. But songbirds.

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There are maybe two or three thousand
of US across North America that do different

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kinds of projects with songbirds, and
there's only about one hundred of US who

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do hummingbirds because it requires a special
permit beyond the regular songbird permit and special

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training. And there are different reasons
for that, but it's you know,

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they're small. A lot of it
has to do with the fact that they're

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very small birds, and safety is
priority one with all of these research projects.

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You want to make sure that you
know, if you're going to put

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a band on a bird to learn
something about it, that the birds are

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not harmed or in any way or
there's no detrimental effect, So you want

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to figure out their longevity and their
migration routs and things like that. So

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being highly trained to be as safe
as possible is all part of the process.

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And just how tiny is a band
for a hummingbird? So I do

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00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:11.720
PowerPoint programs for garden clubs and bird
clubs, and I have a PowerPoint presentation

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showing one of these bands on the
tip of my finger, and that's really

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the best way to see how small
they are. So I mean, if

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I tell you that the bands are
roughly two millimeters in diameter and one point

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00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:30.440
four millimeters tall, that sounds small, but when you see it on my

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00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:37.000
finger in a photo, it's really
really small. A band that we put

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on a chickadee is like eight times
bigger. Wow, that's amazing. And

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the bands are for songbirds come to
us in the envelopes in strings of one

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00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:52.680
hundred on a wire and they're stamped
and curled into a you know, a

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00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:56.160
ring. The hummingbird bands come to
us on a flat sheet. They have

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to cut them out with special tools
and file them down and pet them to

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00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:04.839
size, so we actually have to
make them versus you know, that's where

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00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:08.440
the special training comes in, so
you need to have really good close vision,

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which I've been near sighted. I've
worn glasses since I was eight years

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old, and so working with tiny
things has been kind of second nature to

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me. But you have to make
the bands so that they the right size.

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They won't be too tighter or too
large and stuff off and no sharp

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edges and all that stuff. So
but yeah, they're very tiny. People

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often ask me how much do they
weigh? My scale way to the tenth

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00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:41.559
of a gram, and I don't
know. I put one on it registers

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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,

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don't impede the bird bird's movement or
flight in any way. And you know,

358
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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

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they can just smash the aluminum with
their bags. Interesting, we're talking to

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Alan Shartier and he is the Michigan
hummingbird Guy. Now the link to his

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website. We're gonna put that at
our website, Gardening Simplified on air dot

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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

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00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:40.079
this work that Alan does as well
as incredible pictures that he takes from northern

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00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:45.759
flickers to tree swallows and yellow warblers
on his Flicker account. That link is

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there on his account. Also important
work that you do with banding. Alan.

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For our listeners and our viewers,
someone who has a backyard, loves

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flowers and plants, a word of
advice for our listeners as far as hummingbirds

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are concerned, and what you've learned
through the years, how can we appreciate

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them best? How can we support
hummingbird populations well? As a hummingbird researcher,

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I am not home very much,
and as a photographer, I really

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am into wildflowers of all kinds.
So I don't have a really good background

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in gardening because I'm not home long
enough to do any of it. But

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having spoken to lots and lots of
garden clubs and familiar with a whole lot

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of other researchers who work on this, it's good to have a home that

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is a yard that is a little
bit scruffy for wildlife in general. Really

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00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:48.240
manicured spot is not going to be
that good for wildlife in general. And

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I like to promote the nectar sources
from flowers, and you can put bird

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00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:57.440
feed hummingbird feeders up as well,
with the realization that you know, the

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hummingbird feeders are mostly for you to
be able to see them closer. The

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00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:07.839
nectar sources. I like to promote
native plants primarily, although there are a

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00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.480
lot of non native plants that hummingbirds
really do like as well, and there's

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00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.880
some other plants that are kind of
in between. So for example, the

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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

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00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:33.039
grows up on a trellis or a
fence really well. But it's not native

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00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.640
as far north as Michigan, but
it is native to North America. Other

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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,

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00:29:52.839 --> 00:30:00.039
and then verbenas and lobelias and things
like that. Turtle head, wild

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00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:07.559
bergamot, things like that are also
very good. A plant that grows in

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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
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proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
Our award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have

439
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440
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work. Look for proven Winners,
color Choice shrubs and the distinctive white container

441
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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.