The Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary: March 2018

BASICS

BASICS: "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..." (J. J. Audubon).

This is a blog about my summer life at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, at my winter garden, Calypso, in the Bahamas, and aspects of life in general.

This private sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public, as a result of a lawsuit brought by a neighbor. Only my friends and personal guests may visit (paul.adams%stonybrook.edu).

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Sunday, March 25, 2018

summer hummers

I've been sorting through old clips from last summer in Baiting Hollow - here are a few keepers. The first shows one interrupting a snack on shrimp plant to attack an intruder.

The next is a slo-mo feeder clip.

next, feeding at various salvias

and at zinnia (slo-mo)

finally, 2 more fighting sequences

Sunday, March 18, 2018

another male hummingbird, and a beach

Monday, March 12, 2018

Adult Male Bahama Woodstar Hummingbird

This fellow is guarding the 2 feeders under the porch of our house at Calypso, on the island of Eleuthera. He perches on a clothes line we sometimes use when it rains. Notice his purple gorget (black except when viewed from the front). The third video is a view of coconut palms here.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Donna DeSousa visits Calypso

Some of you may know Donna DeSousa, an avid hummingbirder in Greenlawn who has been a long-time supporter of the sanctuary, and who started the FaceBook page "Friends of the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary". Tragically her teenage daughter Maggie succumbed to a brutal cancer last year and I took over the administration of FotBHSS, while she has set up an organization to fight childhood cancer: Maggie's MIssion. She recently took a much needed break here at Calypso and took this picture of a young male hummingbird just outside her oceanfront cottage:

She showed me where he was perching and I got this video:

Saturday, March 10, 2018

A Couple of Beach Videos

Here are today's views to the right (i.e east) and left (i.e. west) from the beach at Calypso. The recent storms in the Northeast generated big waves that have shifted sand onto our beach.

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FAQs

1. How can I visit? Unless you are an invited friend or personal guest of the owner, Paul Adams, you cannot. The sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public.

2.Why did the sanctuary close? The sanctuary opened, on a very limited basis, during 1998-2017. However, a neighbor, Kamal Bherwani, and 2 former neighbors, Fred Terry and Shawn Hamilton, brought a $3 million lawsuit, and forced complete and permanent closing. The plaintiffs claimed, incorrectly, that the sanctuary was a "commercial business". Though no evidence for this claim was, or could be, produced, the owner decided to settle the lawsuit and permanently close.

3. When do the hummingbirds arrive and leave, and where do they go for the winter?

They arrive on Long Island late april, and early may. They leave between aug 1 and oct 1. The adult males arrive and leave first, then the adult females, then the young, in order of fledging. They all go to central America via the Gulf of Mexico.

3. What varieties do we have at the sanctuary?

Only the ruby-throat (only the adult male has the ruby throat). This is the only one that breeds east of the Mississipi. The US has about 9 other species but they are all western.

4. Why are there rocks in the trees? How long have you had this place?

I have had the property for 27 years and each year I put a new rock to mark the beginning of a new hummingbird season (may 1).

5. What is the best place to sit to see hummingbirds?

On your bottom! Since you may have to wait a bit choose the spot that best suits you.

6. How can I attract hummers to my yard?

Plant cardinal flower (right variety!) and black-and-blue salvia, maintain a couple of small clean feeders, both placed where you spend a lot of time outdoors (or in front of a picture window). Read this blog or lihummer.org for further suggestions.