Hummingbird Plant Partnership

Hummingbirds, Nature

 

It is interesting that hummingbirds are not found outside the western hemisphere except with the assistance of humans who help them to visit there. Some have been carried to Africa by humans. Most of them live in South America, but we found many in Arizona the years we lived there in winters, before the United States declared economic war on us here in Canada.

Manitoba only has one native humming bird, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), but it is gorgeous. The males are particularly gorgeous of course.

 

hat is also why so many hummingbirds have such flamboyant displays of colourful feathers that are designed to scare their foes. Some of their feathers are what Attenborough called “extravagantly iridescent.” Those extravagant colours are not produced by pigments, but rather by layers of  air bubbles in the feathers. Attenborough described this as follows: “Those air bubbles refract, reflect, and recombine sunlight to produce dazzling colours. The colours depend on the angle of the sunlight, so hummingbirds can turn on and off their brilliant signal, flashing a warning to an intruder, or hide from an enemy.” That is why one can never be sure that a dull hummingbird is nonetheless a male with its gorget feather not reflecting well because of the angle to the sun

 

Hummingbirds are not unusual in the sense that like so many other birds, they look to flowers for their food in return for agreeing (or not) to carry the flowers pollen from one flower to another. It is an example of a free trade agreement. As a result, as Attenborough said, “nectar fuels their frenetic movement.”

 

Nowadays a lot of flowers use birds as carriers, but this was not the original inters-species agreement. When flowers first evolved, over 60 million years ago there were no hummingbirds. The first flowering plants depended on insects to carry their valuable cargo, but in South America the mornings are often cool and damp, and insects are cold-blooded so are often lethargic at such times. Flowers could use better, more reliable, messengers, so they looked to birds. The original bargain was one between plants and animals such as butterflies. Butterflies carry the pollen from one flower to another and hence fertilized flowers they encountered. Insects are then fed with nectar. A fair deal. Some flowers cheated however. For example, some orchids deliver no food to the insects, but only sweet smells. They promise nectar to the birds but don’t actually give it up.

 

Hummingbirds in South America, and now Manitoba, are able to fly in all weather conditions, at least in summer. Thus, they can carry pollen more reliably than butterflies.

 

As David Attenborough said in his film, The Secret Life of Birds, “the plant and insect have been in a long and successful arrangement, but at some point, some plants dropped their insect messengers.” Birds like hummingbirds provided a safer pair of wings as far as the flowers were concerned. This first new deal probably happened about 50 million years ago according to Attenborough. Hummingbirds were ideal partners.

 

Birds at first probably were attracted to the insects on birds as a source of tasty food. But some hummingbirds could also drink the nectar inside the flowers. The first hummingbirds were larger and clumsier than the modern hummingbirds. They learned better in millions of years they related. Evolution in time—long time—provided smaller birds that were better flyers. As Attenborough said, “the bird evolved to better suit their new way of life.”  That’s how evolution works. “Over millions of years birds’ bills to be evolved thinner and lighter all the  better to scour for nectar,” as Attenborough said. The birds also became more agile than their ancestors. They had to learn to hover in order to insert their bills into the flowers. They also evolved long tongues to probe the flowers and sip the nectar.  These tongues are visible on some of my photos.

 

The hummingbirds also had to reduce their weight and did not have any Ozempic pills to help them. So their legs got lighter, thinner, and smaller. As a result they could no longer hop. As Attenborough said, “Hummingbirds live on an energy life edge”.

 

 

Today over 8,000 different plants depend on birds for pollination. Of course, there was a problem.  Insects are cold-blooded unlike birds. As a result, birds require a lot more energy than the insects. In fact, often they need 10 times as much energy than the insects they replaced. According to Attenborough, “a hummingbird eats more than its weight in nectar each day.”  So flowers have to produce a lot of nectar to keep those birds coming. No nectar; no birds.

A lot of flowers that are attractive to hummingbirds are red or orange.  Bees are red-green color blind. To make their flowers less attractive to insects, some of the flowers evolved to have long thin flowers which the birds could find and insert their long slim bills into. Hummingbirds can hover, which is needed to get inside those flowers, but that costs the birds a lot of energy. They are the only birds that can hover well enough to hold their bills in place to extract nectar. Hummingbirds are formed to give them lift and power on the downstroke as well as the upstroke, unlike other birds.

 

Hummingbirds are unique among birds because they are able to fly backwards. They can also rotate on the spot. They can even fly upside down. As Attenborough said, “Plants with their hard to reach flowers have produced the ultimate aerial acrobats.” It really is the plant that creates the animal, and the animal creates the plant. It’s called coevolution. The entire world is connected that way. And it’s all amazing.

 

 

 

 

Celebrities of the Bird World

Birds, Hummingbirds

 

 

 

 

David Attenborough in his film about the Hummingbirds, The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds said, “They are the celebrities, the stars of the bird world.” I agree with this. Who can outshine hummingbirds?

This summer Christiane and I have been spending a lot of time on our deck at the lake watching hummingbirds. We put out feeders filled with sugar water—1 part sugar for every part water—and wait for the birds to come to us. We pull out binoculars on the little table between us and are entertained for hours. We can sit there reading and watching. The entertainment is astounding. Every few minutes another hummer comes by or is chased by one of his cantankerous colleagues.

 

Humming birds do not play well with others.  They cannot abide a competitor no matter how much abundance in feed.  They will spend enormous energy flying after foes to make it clear to the others that this is their territory and no one else’s.

It is strange that they are so territorial. In the forests of south America that is necessary. They must fend off competitors for food. In the front yard of our cabin at the lake they waste their time and energy chasing rivals away from their food source—my feeders. Perhaps in millions of years they will adapt and change if some people continue to support them with supplies of sugary nectar substitution

This was one of the rare males I saw this year. Are the males dying out? Teh gorget was more orange than red.

I have been trying to catch them in flight with my camera and my big lens, and that is an incredible challenge.  They rarely stay long in one place.  But again, the fun is in the chase. They are so fast they fly by in a blur.  But modern high-speed cameras can slow them down when 1 second becomes 15 seconds.  When you slow them down you can look into their secret world.

The Secret Life of Hummingbirds

Birds, Hummingbirds

Lately I have been spending a crazy amount of time following and luring hummingbirds.  I want to capture them. Not literally, but virtually, with my camera.  It is great sport. It would be much easier to shoot them with a rifle. But this is more fun. Great fun in fact.  People often say the fun is in the chase. And I agree with that.

 

I recently watched a video narrated by David Attenborough, one of the finest nature narrators and interpreters.  The video is called The Secret Lives of Hummingbirds. He said that “hummingbirds are amongst the most spectacular of animals on earth.”  I agree with this as well.

Hummingbirds are very small birds. Among the smallest warm-blooded animals on earth, according to Attenborough.

 

He also “their glittering colours and prowess in the air are unmatched.”   Many birds have gorgeous colours, including hummingbirds, but their flying skills are astonishing.

 

 

 

They Stole a City by Lauren Collins

Death of Truth, History, racism, Sacred Ignorance

 

 

Lauren Collins is a staff writer at the New Yorker. Recently, she wrote a book called They Stole a City, about the startling events that occurred in Wilmington North Carolina which I visited a number of years ago as part of the North American Orchid Conference. It is a lovely city with a dark history that many want to keep dark.  There are many Americans who want to keep the real history of America quiet so they can celebrate all the wonders of America without considering its warts.

 

Lauren was interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning, a television show that Christiane and I watch quite frequently. This episode was worth the watch.

 

Collins started by making an important point about history that MAGA cheerleaders don’t consider.  She said, “Loving a place doesn’t mean lying about it or lying for it.”

 

Her book tells about the events that happened on November 10, 1898. As Jennifer Szalai said in a review of Collins’ book, “What happened in Wilmington on Nov. 10, 1898, has been variously called a riot, a massacre and — by the white people who perpetrated it — a revolution. Collins calls it both a massacre and a coup.” As Szalai said, “It would take more than half a century before a historian would dare to call what happened “a coup d’état.” In hindsight that seems remarkable because it was so obviously true. Colins called it “the only successful coup in American history.”

 

Until then Wilmington had been a model of black and white power sharing, but white supremacists don’t share well with others. It’s always their way or the highway. The supremacists really wanted to purge all black influence in the city.

 

White people got together in Wilmington North Carolina after a clarion call to “white men” to gather in that city to ensure that “business in the furtherance of White Supremacy will be transacted.” They did not hide their intentions. They were completely transparent.  They wanted to take over. No more sharing power. They wanted a coup d’état and that is what they got. They gathered together under the banner of white supremacy because as Szalai said, “white Wilmingtonians were particularly resentful of Black success after the Civil War, complaining of “Negro domination” and “insolence.” The panic was so unhinged that it could border on parody, with unintentionally ridiculous headlines to match: “Negro on Train With Big Feet Behind White,” or “Stole Cheese: Negro Man Boldly Purloins a Cheese.”

 

Whenever people dominating another group of people feel that dominance slipping away it is painful to the dominators. They hate, and inevitably want to do whatever they need to in order to stop the slide. And they don’t care what explodes as a result.  That is how resentment and hatred operate—with fire. They don’t want to be replaced. They want to continue in the driver’s seat. That’s what happened in ‘Wilmington.

 

As a result, the white men took over the local government, signed a new city charter that they called, grandly, “The White Declaration of Independence.” After that they attacked the Black newspaper in killed blacks in a rampage.  No one knows how many blacks were killed. Numbers vary from low tens to more than a hundred. Collins believes higher numbers are more likely because the powerful white men tried to hide the true numbers. At the time 56% of the city was black. Today it is a mere 15%.

 

 

The next day, they attacked the offices of the Black newspaper that ran the offending editorial and proceeded to take over City Hall.

 

The granddaughter of one of the victims was interviewed by CBS and said, We need justice and we need healing and healing does not come with lies. Neither does justice. It comes with the ugly truth of things.”  This is a woman with honour and genuine pride, entirely unlike the white supremacists who support the current Republicans in America who want to hide the truth from their families. They want their children to be proud of their ancestors whether they deserve the honour or not.

 

One of the white citizens of Wilmington put it well: “It is incumbent upon white people like me to consider their history and grapple with it and shoulder the full truth of it even when it is uncomfortable.” Only the truth will set you free.

 

And of course, the same steadfast devotion to the real truth is required of us Canadians as we confront the history of our country and its treatment of Indigenous people in Canada.

Meandering into and out of Danger

Hummingbirds, Natural History, Nature

 

When Christiane finished breakfast and stepped outside our cottage at Buffalo Point this past week, she remarked, “This is what heaven should look like.” Sometimes she is very wise.

This day we woke up to a glorious day. Nothing special about that at the lake, but it sure was great.  First, the Hummingbirds were going crazy. They were chasing each other madly. That is what they do. Around humming bird feeders they spend much more time chasing each other away from the feeders than they do feeding. Even though they had 4 feeding troughs that could easily be shared, they would rather waste time and energy chasing competitors  away from what they want to hoard. Of course, as soon as the two hummingbirds flee, another flies to the feeder to take advantage of what the foolish birds left behind undefended.  And these were female birds, presumably the smarter sex. The males had already flown to warmer climates, it seemed.

When you think about it, hummingbirds are about as stupid as humans, who also spend a lot of time and energy defending their territory from perceived threats.  Isn’t that what gated communities are all about? Well, hummingbirds are probably not quite as stupid  as humans.

I spent much of the date sitting on the deck in the shade reading a fantastic book, The People v. Democracy by Yascha Mounk. I was drinking hot apple cider, chatting occasionally with my lovely wife Christiane, looking at the lake, watching the crazy birds and enjoying life as good as it get. In any event the day was deeply pleasant.

Near the end of the afternoon, I was sitting alone on the deck, when I was very surprised.  I looked up and saw a black bear walking right by mean on our front yard. He took only quizzical look at me and gave me a pass.  He was not interested in me. I was happy about that. Perhaps he did not see me as very tasty. That would not be surprising.

I have never been as close as that to a black bear. I doubt that it was 10 yards away. Even  closer.  I was holding a camera with a big zoom lens, to photograph tiny hummingbirds, so I had to turn it as far down as possible to get the big bear into focus. After dismissing me, the bear continued meandering towards a bird feeder filled with luscious sunflower seeds. He gave them a sniff but passed on them too. Why? I am not sure but I have a theory.

Black bears have thrived in North America since the arrival of white visitors. Grizzly bears and Polar bears not so much. Why is that?  My theory is that black bears are smart. They have figured out that humans are trouble.  They know we are dangerous.  Even though I was an old man who would have been defenceless to any attack, and I had nowhere to escape,  the bear ambled on.  Somehow it knew that if it mauled me the bear would get in trouble. More trouble than it wanted. There is food around that it is much safer to sample. And probably more tasty too.

 

White-throated Sparrow

Birds, Nature

 

 

Some people think sparrows are boring.  I think those people are boring.  They just don’t see it. Ot sometimes, they just don’t hear it.  For example, The song of the White-throated Sparrow is Oh sweet Canada, Canada.  This bird is a prairie gem. We are lucky to share this prairie with such a gem.

 

And guess what, they are beauties too.

“The Rebirth of ‘My Dad’

Right-wing Extremism

 

In the film The Brain Washing of my Dad, in the end the father of the producer Jen Senko had his brain deprogrammed. Things changed. He moved into a senior’s place with his wife and in the process his radio broke. No more talk radio. They bought a new TV and his wife programmed it. She eliminated Fox News from the cycle without telling her husband. She also unsubscribed him from some of the more extreme emails and posts. Instead, she subscribed him to more liberal and democratic posts. Surprisingly, he started reading some of them. He didn’t realize what was happening. Gradually, he quit listening to Rush Limbaugh and quit watching Fox News. Then he started to describe himself as “half-way between a Democrat and a Republican.” Wow! These were big changes.

 

Now some will say, his wife was brain-washing him too. She certainly was deceitful and tricky. He now accepts that gay men can marry each other. Why not?

 

Mr. Senko’s niece said a kindness had returned to his voice. He saw Obama on TV and said, “you know I kind of like him.” Jen says he is no longer argumentative. He is fun and they get along great.

 

Jen thought her father was reborn. A nice guy again. Is that possible?

Sometimes life is strange.

We can do better.

Doubt Free Zones

Critical thinking, reason, Right-wing Extremism, Skeptical Philosophy

 

Dr. Bryant Welch in his book State of Confusion said, “The sound and visual effects of Fox News are almost carnival-like, with multiple crawlers and a seemingly constant state of news crises created by ‘Fox News Alerts.”  I am aware that CNN bombards its viewers with “Breaking News,” but frankly they are much less effective. On Fox the graphics and images are vivid if not overwhelming. Americans obviously, love them. The colors are stunning. Viewers are stunned. The brain is stunned.

 

Moving images and beautiful women enlarge the distraction and confusion, but commentators, like Sean Hannity are there to give strong opinions that eliminate confusion. They make it very clear what viewers should think. Viewers know what they should think. There are no doubts on Fox. It is a doubt free zone. Nuance is an anathema on Fox. Their listeners want certainty, not doubt.

Such news shows are stimulating. Regular media looks dull in comparison. If you habitually watch Fox, every other news show seems boring. One unnamed critic said, in the film The Brain Washing of My Dad said this:

 

“This creates a mood that mesmerizes an audience and holds it captive. Then when they are captive and overwhelmed and a bit confused they have someone like Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity with their passion, and confidence and certitude tell the audience who they should blame for their confusion and uncertainty.”

 

That is a very effective strategy basically to excite and then calm the nerves.  The film really suggested it was the tool for brain washing.

 

Where there is no room for doubt there is no room for thinking.