Subject: [Tweeters] ANHUs and feeders
Date: Dec 19 20:59:27 2007
From: Mark Myers - myers5448 at gmail.com
I believe humans tend to overestimate their influence, and importance, when
it comes to birds and feeders. When I lived in the southeast U.S. banding
hummers, there was a common misbelief that keeping hummer feeders up during
the winter would prevent Ruby-throated hummers from migrating. Of course,
that was never the case.
Birds of all sorts readily exploit easy food resources. In the case
of migratory hummers (and many other migratory bird species), they tap into
those food resources, then move on. Their innate urge to migrate doesn't
appear to be stopped by the mere presence of feeders. If they became that
reliant on easy food, I would expect to document Rufous hummers year round
in the Seattle area!