THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605170261
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Although tiny green hummingbirds dart in regularly from a nearby fir tree to dine at Dennis McClenny's eight feeders, you ain't seen nothing yet, he said.
In past years, you could see a bird at every feeder port with others hovering behind in line. There wouldn't be one or two birds at a time at the feeders, but scores of them. But it's been a cold spring, McClenny said, and hummingbird activity is low at the farm down on Indian River Road in Pungo.
Still all eight feeders, full of sugar water, are hanging outside the dining area window, waiting for the population explosion McClenny knows will come by summer. A fifth-grade teacher at Ocean Lakes Elementary School, he has video that shows 50 to 60 hummingbirds at the feeders all at once, which he shows to his students.
``It's awesome,'' he said.
McClenny began feeding hummingbirds 16 years ago when he saw one hovering around a blooming sunflower. He put up one feeder and that was just the start.
``It grew into being massive,'' he said.
McClenny won't put up any more feeders because he said he can't afford more than 10 pounds of sugar a week to make the sugar water upon which the birds feed! He uses a ratio of 1/4-cup sugar to a cup of water and never uses red food coloring.
``Boil it and bring it to a rolling boil,'' he said, ``to kill all the bacteria in it and then let it cool.''
McClenny thinks that boiling the mixture keeps it fresher for a longer time, although come summer the big population of hummers will drink all the nectar down before it needs changing. This time of year he changes his feeders when the water begins to look cloudy. He always scrubs them down in hot water and Clorox and rinses them thoroughly.
The little birds get anxious while McClenny is cleaning feeders. As he fills them, they hover all around his head, waiting to feast and making clicking, chirping noises.
``I've had them land on my head and shoulders when I'm filling the feeders,'' he said. `` `Hey, man, hurry up,' they seem to say.''
Generally the hummingbirds feed the heaviest in the early morning, around dusk and before a storm. ``They go into a feeding frenzy before a storm, no matter what the time of day,'' McClenny said.
He puts the feeders up around April 5 and leaves them up until all the birds have migrated from the area, around the middle of October.
Although the McClenny family has never seen a thimble-sized hummingbird nest, they feel sure the little birds nest in the yard, maybe in the fir or in a nearby weeping willow. And although the population increases dramatically in the summer, only once did they see a bird they were sure was a juvenile.
``We saw one a little over an inch long that came to the feeder,'' said McClenny's wife Christine. ``His beak was as long as his body.''
Never shy, the little birds are often aggressive with one another, chasing each other away from the feeder, making a buzzing sound. That day one feisty little female almost chased another right through the open window and into the dining room.
When the family sits outside on the deck which is also near the feeders, the birds fly in as if they are curious. The McClennys can see the males' shiny iridescent red throat and the females' white-ish breasts up close.
``They look into your face, just about a foot away,'' said McClenny's daughter, Missy. ``They are almost like little bees or gnats sometimes.''
She flipped her hand back in sort of a wave as if she were saying ``go way'' to a hummingbird looking into her blue eyes.
Missy just send them our way.
P.S. Young birds learn to fly after they leave their nest, not before. So if you see a fully feathered youngster on the ground squawking away and a parent bird nearby also squawking, chances are everything's OK. If the little bird is in immediate danger from something like a cat, rescue it but then try to reunite it with its parents. It's an old wives' tale that wild critters won't return to youngsters touched by human hands.
RECYCLING is the topic of the Virginia Beach Audubon Society meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Eastern Shore Chapel. Debbie Devine, director of the Bureau of Recycling in the city's Waste Management Division, will speak. Audubon member Betsy Nugent will speak on what's nesting in your backyard now.
ECHO, the wayward Aragona Village cockateel, managed to stray 12 miles from home, ending up in Salem Woods where it was taken in by a family and then reunited with its owner, Mary Breeden. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
A tiny green hummingbird dines at one of the eight feeders hanging
at the Pungo home of Dennis McClenny. The Ocean Lakes Elementary
teacher has video that shows 50 to 60 hummingbirds at the feeders
all at once in summer months.
by CNB