How did you choose your screen name?

Tuleni, welcome to A2k long time no see.

Danon5 do you like that hot cabbage stuff Korean's make - what is it called?

Oooo, Joanne, it's called kimchee. And it's really good if eaten correctly. It is a relish, like our pickle relish and should be eaten as an enhancement to a meat dish like bulgogi (beef) or bulgalbi (pork). It's good and I'll bet you like every ingredient in it. I make my own, but it only will be good for about 5 or 6 days so must be prepared in small quantities and used. Then there is the dreaded WINTER KIMCHEE - that's actually fermented, and a lot stronger.

good stuff kimchee

Yes it is pueo. Say, if you see the FEMA guys over there - one of them is my brother. Just ask for Floyd Hampton. He's really sharp and on the ball when it comes to fun. And he likes beer. GOTCHA!!!! the evil wabbit strikes again!

danon, sounds good i'll look into that.

Speaking, of screen names, and such as that, Pueo, I can't make out your avitar. Is there a flag in there?

Thank goddess, kimchee, I can as quinn1 says get some rest now. Great smell too.

Whoops Booman, screen names sorry. My screen name is my name.

flag? yes, it's the marines raising the flag on iwo jima ww11.

Hums The Bird
I have this connection with birds that's difficult to contain in a few sentences. And, hummingbirds are among those I'm most fascinated with, because, beyond their beauty and marvelously unique physical skills, if you've ever interacted with hummingbirds, you know well just how tenacious, brave and enduring the mighty little beauties are.

I was regarding one of the sparkling beauties one afternoon, years ago, and mused over their naming: that they weren't birds who actually hummed, unlike their family common name of "hummingbirds," but birds in motion and intensity who created expression noteworthy enough with their basic movements to such an extent, that they would be known by many for their very acts of survival -- which was, flight at each moment throughout their lives that was noticable for the very sound it created, while the birds, themselves, for the most part, remained silent.

So, I considered how the birds hum. How the bird hums. And, so, years ago, when asked to register a User I.D. somewhere, "Hums The Bird" it was.

"Hums" is a verb, as I regard it in this User I.D., not a noun. As in, "the bird hums," not in "Hums, The Bird," as a name of a bird. However, regard it as whatever is easiest to understand.

It's the same User I.D. I use everywhere on the Internet, although I used another one on ABZ. That one from ABZ, is going to remain unused here, since I'm very fond of "Hums The Bird" (which I didn't use on ABZ).

Lovely story HTB, I had many Humming Bird regulars when I lived in San Francisco and San Diego. They are sturdy and lovely and you have said it best.

Why, thank you, Joanne. I get many of the hummers here in the Spring and Summer, too, in Southern CA, coastal. It's always a debate whether to feed them or not, since an ornothologist I used to know very well, told me that feeding them threatened the species -- they stop migrating with the Seasons when there's a human food source, and, accordingly, fail to instruct the future generations how to migrate, and to where.

Then, when a person or persons who's been feeding them, moves away and/or stops the food source for any reason, the birds perish for lack of foraging skills. They do, in fact, become domesticated by all those feeders on all those porches.

But, it's sure hard to deny them, particularly when they're so wonderful to watch at the feeders, and to have visit your windows.

Sorry, Moderator...wandered off topic a tad.

HTB, you mean it's has actually been determined that migratory patterns are communicated from generation to generation? I had always assumed it was something we had to vaguely attribute to something called instinct, which seems more of a name than explaination. Actually, I wish some of my birdloving friends would quit feeding the Canada geese around here. The ugly brutes couldn't find Canada with a compass and road map.

Speaking of instincts, by the way. . . . Follow them on this site. Some discussions tend to stick closely to the original topic, and some go awandering. It hasn't been a problem yet, and your instincts seem sound.

Thanks
Yeah, roger, birds are taught by previous generations, where to go and when. Most of them, anyway (many fresh water ducks, on the other hand, are nearly devoid of parental guidance from about one day after hatching, and find their own way with little instruction from anyone, but, they DO flock together, in one, huge, "group think" when migrating).

Others, however, like hummingbirds, for instance, depend on the parental generation to both instruct and guide the next generation, as to when to fly where and eat what where and when. They're instructed in food source locations by their parents, as are many other type of birds (cranes, for another example, behave likewise), and, if the food source is an artifical one, the generations learn that's what to eat and where, and not what's available in the wild, or when to leave an area to find another food source and climate.

So, they perish when the weather changes and the human food source is interrupted or removed. Not good.

Geese, yes, are a problem. If we'd only allow coyotes and wolves, wolverines and puma, to roam free and uninhibited, we'd solve our over population of geese all over the Western and Northern U.S. They're everywhere in the Colorado Rockies for most of the Winters and Springs, and it's a real problem for man/women, particularly when the geese perceive the many golf balls as eggs to be collected.

Oh, and all that goo.

But, they are beautiful birds, no doubt about it. Many a coyote think so, too. :wink:

HTB
I love hummingbirds myself. I set out at least 3 feeders every year for them and watching them is a sight to see :-D

Hi Hums, welcome to A2K.

Interesting info re the birds.

Well...
Is there a BIRDS Thread around here somewhere?

Or, maybe even, a Thread about the history of User I.D.'s that are permutations of bird names?

Thanks for the ongoing welcomes. They are appreciated.

Hi, HumsTheBird, and welcome. Re hummingbirds .. here at Timberland we put out several feeders for them every year. The feeders are scrupulously maintained, kept clean and filled with fresh nectar on a daily basis. The cleaning and refilling of a feeder usually occasions much chirping and peeping (no, the little suckers really do chirp and peep), and bold, defiant, head-skimming strafing passes on the offending human. We have come to recognize returning individuals from year to year, noting their return with delight, missing old freinds who may not return. There appear to be a few different families or colonies which take their summers here, the young of one year returning to produce young of their own the next. Their evening meal time often coincides with our own, and there are large feeders in view of the diningroom windows which are surrounded by their busy interactions and rivalries as they jockey and jostle for sipping room. An ornithologist of my acquaintence assures me it is the change of length of day which triggers their migratory instinct, and that a secure, reliable, plentiful food source encourages them and their young to return year after year to a particular spot, resulting in increasing population density. As some years back when we started feeding there were just a few and we now harbor clouds of them in season, I suspect the validity of that conjecture.



timber

Those Ornothologists...
I guess it's an issue of differing perspectives by ornithologists.

My guy was a Ph.D., earned at University of Colorado (Boulder), specializing in both birds, and also, fresh water fish and their habitats and populations management.

And, University of CA ornithologist who'se earned a Ph.D. with studies about, specifically, hummingbirds...both are very stern about the artifical food source issue.

Problems occur when, say, you move away. And, whoever occupies your area doesn't provide the same feeding supply as you did. For just one example, but, that gives you an idea of the issue, because, while we humans have lifetimes of, maybe a dozen or even two dozen years of feeding the hummers and other wild populations of birds, the birds themselves are ongoing in generations and continue to remain in the same migratory paths and season in exactly the same locations, generation after generation after generation. One change in one generation is enough to both plummet their breeding population numbers and to encourage another generation to forget where to go, and when.

I've been referring to climate zones, such as is most of Coastal CA, where the hummers won't migrate away from if artificial food sources exist. In areas where there are more severe Seasonal temperature changes, yes, they'r more encouraged to leave the area, but, again, unless an older generation of hummers shows a younger generation where to go on their migratory paths, they're lost and their numbers plummet, again, for loss of habitat and survivable areas with adequate food and water (they have to be shown where to find all of that).

I love their chirping and noises, and, yes, am really familiar with them. There's a group nearby where I live in CA who chirps all summer long from the nearby trees, but I rarely can see them -- but, I certainly hear them, and from a great distance away.

About the name, though, and what I was mentioning earlier as to how and why I created the User I.D. you see here, hummingbirds don't humm, but their wing activity creates the hum that human ears hear.

But, yes, they do chirp, and, a lot.

It's still a cautionary thing as to feeding hummers, because, what occurs is that one population after another becomes dependent upon your food as a natural source (it isn't), and the increased population numbers you see exist because of the altered food issue. Once that's removed or modified, many of them starve, for lack of natural food sources.

So, it's best to keep in mind that you'll need to include them in your will, or, perhaps, start weaning them off the amount of food you provide over several years, so that they can adjust.

There are many birds whose natural food sources are removed every year by development. I think a lot of people who provide bird feeders are taking up the slack. When someone cut down a lot-sized stand of scrub growth nearby, I was surprised at the huge influx of birds to my yard. It is sad.

I don't feed hummers, though, as I think they are particularly at risk. Instead I try to plant natural sources for them. In the PNW we have over-wintering Anna's... just read recently that one of their favorite foods is a winter-flowering Mahonia.

Maybe you ought to start a bird forum. I'd enjoy it very much. I am a member of an email group served by the local University that provides birding information, including regular birding lists and rare bird sightings from Canada to Portland. It is fascinating.