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Hummers!If you were thinking the four-wheel drive SUVs on steroids--no! These hummers weigh less than a penny but are the ultimate showmen and jousters of the avian world. The hummingbirds we see at red sugar water feeders all across the middle of America are the ruby-throated variety as can easily be determined by one look at a male in flight. Their wings move so fast that they are invisible but their demeanor toward each other is my greatest fascination. I had my first chance to appreciate hummingbirds in the mid 1980s as a TV reporter in Kansas. I was working with Gene Brehm of the Kansas Department of Fish and Game (now the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks) based in Pratt. Gene was a skilled photographer who was determined to get magazine photos of a hummingbird at a flower with its wings stopped and in focus. To do so he had a special strobe that would only illuminate for 1/10,000th of a second. We went to the home of an elderly couple in southeast Kansas who had at least 40 feeders around their house. The man knew we were coming and greeted us with the admonition, "Just stand quiet and the hummers will be back." As we moved our equipment into place, and I began to shoot video of Gene setting up for his shot, we heard a buzzing sound and the hummingbirds appeared in what seemed to be a swarm. But they weren't flying in formation, they were dog fighting. It was amazing to watch the aggressive behavior they showed to each other and how one would stake out a feeder and challenge all comers. The wings were a blur and the specialized beak was positioned like a lance as the miniature bird jousted, without fear, at every attempt to penetrate his airspace. He often went to the feeder to drink and would fly off for a few minutes but then reassumed his dominance. Photographer Brehm got his shots and they were beautiful. He recorded a very thin slice of time with adornment of shimmering green feathers and a bright ruby red spot on the throat. No human costume could compare to this creation of nature. Even at the extremely short exposure, only a few photos stopped the flutter of the wings and were completely in focus. Hummingbirds symbolize single mindedness to me. They are inconsequential in any grand view of the universe and yet they busily feed and protect their domain. They migrate over a thousand miles and reproduce young who head south with them in the fall. The females are in the game too as they show dominance over each other until a male swoops in and clears the area, shooing them back to their nests and young. Are we just large blobs to them? Is all else irrelevant except as obstacles to their flight? Do they discount everything about us except the free drinks at the bar we put out to attract their attention? It somewhat reminds me of a farmer who drives by his neighbors and sizes up their farmstead, equipment and fields while unable to see a huge agribusiness on the other side of the road. A species that exists within itself. A tribe that only responds to its own kind and the rhythms of mother earth. We sit on the deck in the evening and watch the feeder that my wife keeps full of man-made nectar. The hummers come in and begin to fight. A male flashes the ruby spot and shows dominance. My wife says: "He's so macho he'd wear a gold chain if he could fly with it." We laugh and are entertained by their antics. Occasionally one will sit on the perch above the feeder and we realize how incredibly small they are. The legs are impossibly fragile and the body has no substance at all. When they take flight, all that frailty changes and the wings beat at a fantastic speed. The little bird becomes a force field that can move in any direction with the beak always oriented toward danger or food. Within the course of nature, could any organism evolve any further? Editor's note: Ken Root is now celebrating his 34th year as an agricultural professional. His career began as a vocational agriculture teacher then turned to agricultural broadcasting and writing as well as environmental consulting and association management. He was the original host of AgriTalk (1994-2001) and now is lead farm broadcaster for WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa. Date: 6/7/07
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