Anne

The past few summers here in Missouri I've noticed hummingbirds hanging around the tall cyclone fence that surrounds a tennis court on the nearby college campus. At first I wondered if the fence was a barrier to the bird. Then I saw that bird seemed to be gleaning something from the wires of the fence. I wracked my brain trying to think of what it could be that attracted the hummers and finally noticed spider webs strung across the openings. I thought it was possible but unlikely that they were actually robbing the spider's pantry. Olwen's comment got me thinking. Then I watched the video "Hummingbirds are Just Like Other Birds," and about 2 minutes in a humming plucks a tiny spider from its web. So amazingly adaptable!

There is so much great information in this lesson. The structure of the wing was surprising to me, although it only makes sense that their wings would be structurally different from other birds. I have read about hummers at high elevation in the Andes lowering their body temperature, but I didn't know that other species also lower their temperatures, although perhaps not as much. I have never read about the structure of the tongue and the mechanism that squeezes out the nectar that's collected.

In the small pond in my backyard, I spotted something where the pump circulates the water--it looked like a drowned hummingbird. I picked up the bird--still alive, but in a state of torpor. It was a female Ruby-throated, with her legs entangled in fibrous algae. After removing the strings of algae, I put her on to a feeder and after what seemed like a long few minutes, she took a long drink. Then she was off in a flash.

@Laura Gray fox was the most surprising for me too!

I have never heard anyone except birders say something nice about crows. Most people seem unaware of them. I sometimes have seen them doing acrbatics in the air. Fascinating birds and beautiful when the sun shines on their feathers.

Crows now appear to b healthy in my area of sSt. Louis , MO. Some years ago, when WNV was around , I saw crows that looked very sick . sSome staggered, some allowed people to come too close , some appeared to be blind . I saw some carcasse. There were far fewer crows . At the same time I noticed that groups of Fish crows replaced them.