Birds in hand worth a bushel of data

Hummingbirds were fitted with bands for identification at the conservation center.

A hummingbird lay on its back perfectly still for more than a minute in the palm of 8-year-old Jordan Mackey of Jackson.

Then, without warning, the bird buzzed away, fast as a bullet.

"It felt like five bees in your hand," Jordan said.

Releasing hummingbirds after they had been given an identification band was part of a festival held Saturday at the Cape Girardeau conservation campus. The event marked the beginning of hummingbirds' southern migration in Southeast Missouri. Families and bird enthusiasts gathered at the center to watch bird banding, participate in crafts and games, watch educational videos and buy plants to attract the tiny birds.

"The males migrate early to get feeding territory established that attract females for breeding," said Cathie Hutcheson, a Southern Illinois bird bander. "Then the females do all the parenting tasks, including nest building."

Two wire cages and two netted traps were set up near the nature center patio, bordering a wooded area, to capture birds for banding. Lanny Chambers of Fenton, Mo., a bird bander for eastern Missouri, and his wife released the birds quickly after documenting sex, weight, size and age, and then attaching a band to each bird's leg.

"Every time a bird is recaptured you learn something. If someone recaptures my bird, they'll be told where it came from," said Chambers, who's been banding for six years. "You have to band a lot to start getting results."

Ruby-throated hummingbirds, which weigh 3 grams on average, call for a band so tiny that more than a dozen can be threaded onto a safety pin.

Some of those who attended came for practical reasons.

"I'm here to find out how to keep the ants away from the feeder," said Sherry Holloway of Jackson.

And Bill and Paula Stairs of Cobden, Ill., know about ants. They use Sevin dust on the ground to keep ants away from the dozens of 30-ounce feeders on their eight wooded acres. Last season the couple bought 915 pounds of sugar for their feeders. Paula Stairs said that on Friday they began using 20 pounds of sugar per day to fill their feeders.

Hutcheson, who bands birds on the Stairs' property, said about 1,500 hummingbirds are on their property.

More birds are seen at feeders early and late in the day. Typically hummingbirds spend the middle of the day chasing insects.

Supplying hummingbirds with insects can be achieved by making use of overripe fruit or just banana skins in a hanging basket. Hutcheson suggested refilling feeders following rain, because the water washes nectar out of flowers. Other sugggestions included spreading out feeders to help prevent one bird from taking over a feeder, and keeping at least one up after September.

Assistant nature center manager Steve Juhlin said he'd had a Rufous hummingbird at his feeder as late as Jan. 15. "I had to keep a heat lamp on the nectar to keep it from freezing," he said.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133