bird watching

today is my admin day: i clear emails, muddle through my in-box, organize myself with lists, clean my studio and get generally organized. because it was warm yet overcast, i did most of my work-on the computer, of course-outside...and spurred on by the world series of birding, i decided to count all of the birds i saw while doing it. the first bird i saw was a pileated woodpecker, who cruised through the trees right in front of me. the last bird i saw was a ruby throated hummingbird-the fist of the season!- which i had (somehow) anticipated, and made a double batch of nectar for earlier in the day. in between, i saw the great blue heron, 8 or so osprey, titmice with chickadees, cardinals, american goldfinch, eastern bluebirds, two red bellied woodpeckers, various crows, harbor gulls and a white breasted nuthatch that cracked kernels of corn from the bird feeder on the loblolly pine. another bird-y thing happened when ot and i went to the beach: i heard the crazy call of a pilleated woodpecker...then a second...and then many many more: i dont know how many, but a lot! from the trees these birds were screaming for about 3 minutes..then silence. wow: it was cool! purple martins should show up any second since the sun is setting soon. the highlight of the day was definately the hummingbird-who is buzzing me right now, coincidentally- because it's arrival signals the beginning of summer, a week before the unofficial start during memorial day weekend. i love summer!

how do you make hummingbird nectar?

i am sitting outside writing posts for my various blogs and the ruby throated hummingbirds are buzzing all around me! they seem to alternate guarding my new feeder for themselves: sitting on a branch til another hummer approaches then chasing them off with a chirp. the video above, from tharulla, illustrates perfectly what im seeing and hearing! they share the feeder with much reluctance with the carpenter bees however, giving them as much space and time as they want. my nectar mix is getting low, so i was wondering if i could make it myself. 1-part granulated sugar to 4-parts water boiled and cooled without food coloring seems to be the consensus for maintaining healthy hummers. raw honey or turbinado sugar would have been my guess, but honey promotes the growth of microorganisms that could cause disease in the little birds, and raw sugar has too much iron which can be deadly to a hummingbird. so, into the kitchen to make my tiny woodland friends a delicious energy drink!