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Welcome to BirdTracks® Online!
An e-mail newsletter from Wild Birds Unlimited for August 2002.

In This Issue:
1. Hummingbirds put on a humdinger of a show!
2. How to attract hummingbirds.
3. Squirrels making you squirrelly?
4. A beautiful circle of life.

1. Hummingbirds put on a humdinger of a show!
Hummingbirds become more active in August - many of them preparing for the long flight south for the winter. As these birds prepare for migration, they can increase their body fat by up to 50 percent. You'll see them frequently at feeders and flowers, and they can be aggressive defending their food source. There are 16 species of hummingbirds in North America - here is information on four compiled from data gathered by Project FeederWatch participants.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird has the widest breeding distribution of any hummingbird in North America. It is the only hummingbird common in the eastern half, and it migrates all the way to Central America for winter - flying 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico!

Rufous Hummingbirds have one of the longest migration flights of any bird when you convert the distance to the number of body lengths flown. These tiny birds build their nests along the West Coast and fly to central Mexico for the winter. Some birds have been observed spending the winter in the southeastern U.S. as well. This tiny bird weighs about one-eighth of one ounce and beats its wings 44 times per second.

Black-chinned Hummingbirds are prevalent throughout the West during breeding season and spend their winters in Mexico or the Southwest. They are quite adept at pulling as much nectar as possible from flowers and generally prefer new blooms to old ones.

Anna's Hummingbirds are the only hummingbirds that breed and spend the winter in the United States - mostly in California. They tend to eat more insects than other hummingbirds, primarily because many native California plants do not bloom in the winter. They have been known to eat up to 38 tiny flies daily to satisfy their need for protein. 

2. How to attract hummingbirds:

• Fill a hummingbird feeder with a solution of four parts water, one part table sugar. Never use honey or artificial sweeteners!
• Change the nectar solution every three to four days - more frequently in hot weather.

Stop by a Wild Birds Unlimited store near you to explore the various nectar feeders available. Our Wild Birds Unlimited Hummingbird feeders are available in 8 and 16 ounce sizes. (16 oz. shown here.)

3. Squirrels making you squirrelly?
You can feed them - or try to beat them!  Chances are that if you feed the birds you'll have some squirrels or other creatures conspiring for ways to clean out your feeders. You can offer them a feeding station of their own - corn and peanuts are a favored fare. If you do, be sure to keep it away from your house and away from your birdfeeding stations.

Or, you can try to keep them at bay by placing baffles on the pole underneath your tube and hopper feeders or surrounding your tube feeders with cages. Another option: Try feeding safflower to your birds. Many birds enjoy safflower but squirrels typically do not like the taste of this seed.

Whatever you do, consider this:

• Squirrels can smell food from great distances, which is how they find what they bury. 
• They can leap 8 to 10 feet between objects and 5 to 6 feet vertically.
• They eat more than their body weight in food each week!

The certified birdfeeding specialists at Wild Birds Unlimited can help you decide how best to handle your squirrels and other wildlife. Stop by your nearest store soon!

4. A beautiful circle of life
Monarch butterflies will begin their migration to Mexico soon, and what a marvel the journey is! The entire eastern population of North American monarch butterflies resides in Mexico for the winter. Monarch butterflies west of the Rocky Mountains travel to the California coast for the winter.

The monarchs decide to begin their migration based on the length of the day and the change in temperature. Monarchs typically live two to six weeks in the summer. However, at the end of the summer, this last generation travels south and lives in Mexico for up to eight months. Then they begin the journey north mating and laying eggs on milkweed plants along the way. And thus, the circle of life begins anew.