Claudia West, Birds & Butterflies Committee Chair, gave an informative talk at our February meeting, The Mightiest Midgets – Hummingbirds. A few hummingbird facts are listed below.

• The name hummingbird comes from the humming noise their wings make. Their wings can beat up to 200 times a second.
• There are over 330 species of hummingbirds in North and South America.
• Hummingbirds can be as small as two inches and weigh slightly less than a nickel.
• Their tiny legs are only used for perching – they can't walk or hop.
• While resting, the average hummingbird takes 150 breaths per minute.
• They are the only birds that can fly backward. Their wings move in a figure-eight pattern, which allows them to maneuver with ease. 
• They can fly as fast as 30 mph and up to 60 mph when they are diving.
• Their heart rate is over 1,200 beats per minute – ours is only 60 to 100.
• Hummingbirds are the smallest migrating birds. They are solitary migrants and typically travel up to 500 miles at a time.
• Although hummingbirds are small, they are very territorial and will try to protect their food source – both flowers and feeders. They spend a lot of time chasing other birds away.
• Hummingbirds have long tongues that function as a tiny pump to suck the sought-after sweet liquid from feeders and flowers. They can consume up to double their body weight in a day.
• When flowers are hard to find, hummingbirds eat tree sap and small insects.
• It takes five to seven days for a hummingbird to build its nest, made of lichen, moss, and spiderwebs. Their nests are about the size of a half-dollar coin.
• Female hummingbirds only lay two eggs in their nests – the eggs are about the size of a garden pea. 

For additional information on hummingbirds that are commonly seen in our backyards, click the button below.

Owls have superpower vision and can see in the dark. They have incredible hearing and unique flight skills. How do owls have these amazing powers? 

Claudia West, Birds & Butterflies Committee Chair, discussed the PBS program Owl Power with members at our October meeting. The program follows the lives of two barn owl chicks, Luna and Lily, from the moment they hatch to show their development into super-powered owls. Luna and Lily are cared for by longtime bird handlers and trainers Lloyd and Rose Buck who also raise other birds of prey in the English countryside. It takes two weeks for the chicks to open their eyes, but in just two months, they’re nearly adult barn owls and beginning their flight practice.

​For more information on the PBS program, click the button below. 

For more information on barn owls, click the button below.

The parsley worm is a caterpillar that has a green, segmented body with gold dots evenly spaced among black stripes and can grow to be up to two inches long. The parsley worm has a huge appetite for plants in the Apiaceae family –– an expansive group of plants that spans more than 3,000 species and encompasses everything from carrots and parsley to dill, fennel, and Queen Anne's lace.

While you may not like to see it munching on your carrots and herbs, it’s the larva of an important native pollinator –– the black swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes).