The Golden Gate foghorns

I first came to the US in 1978, visiting Ithaca, San Fran and Galveston for job seminars (I'm an academic). The best thing I remember about the whole trip was the Golden Gate foghorns. I sat for an hour under the bridge enveloped physically and spiritually by these majestic noises. To me it was like a great symphony - Bruckner (rather appropriately) comes to mind, or perhaps Gabrieli (an antiphony). Listening to this video literally brings tears to my eyes. Is it still just the same? I have the impression the other vids on Youtube that's it's less rich and complex now. All 3 universities offered me jobs. I ended up in Galveston for 4 years and then Long Island. I suppose our lives would have been totally different. Perhaps I would have tired of this antiphony but I think not. Of course this video does not capture the physicality and bodily penetration of the real thing, one of the wonders of the world.
I've been in Stony Brook hospital for 3 days; no sign of real organic disease other than low blood sodium; no official diagnosis but unofficially seems like psychogenic polydipsia perhaps brought on by worry about the ongoing hummingbird lawsuit.
UPDATE: no real resolution of the underlying problems but nothing life-threatening. But now my wife is in hospital with multiple pulmonary embolisms.

Breaking News: The Surprising Evolution of Hummingbirds

It's long been known that hummingbirds evolved only in the New World, and share an immediate ancestor with swifts and nightjars. But where, when and how did this ancestor appear? A comprehensive genetic study of avian evolution last year in  the premier science journal "Nature" (by Jarvis et al) concluded that hummingbirds share an immediate ancestor with cuckoos. Note that I do not say "branched from cuckoos" because this ancestor was neither cuckoo not hummingbird.

However,  in today's "Nature" an even more detailed study appears (by Prum et al), which changes things dramatically. Here is a comparison of the 2 evolutionary trees, Prum on the left and Jarvis on the right.

Amazingly, according to the new study, the hummingbird group branched off from all other extant bird groups right from the start! Thus they appear on their own at the top of the Prum tree. The other group of birds gave rise to all other living bird species!

However, the Prum and Jarvis trees differ greatly. Which is right? Prum et al argue that the earliest roots of the tree are tangled (see the way some of the red and blue lines cross each other) and under these conditions one needs a lot of data (genomes of a lot of current species) to correctly untangle the longest twistiest roots without breakage (a problem every gardener knows well).

The reason for this appears to be that almost all primitive bird groups died out at the K-T transition, the massive meteor event,  65 million years ago,  that wiped out the dinosaurs, and also triggered massive diversification of primitive mammals (an event without which you would not be reading this).
The world recovered quite rapidly (on a geological time scale) from this catastrophe, and the few remaining bird groups then underwent a rapid explosion of diversification. Was the fact that a few protomammals and protobirds survived while dinosaurs did not, mere chance, part of God's plan, or because these groups could more quickly adapt to the new conditions? More to follow.......

Neutrino has left; salvias bloom on

I got back to the sanctuary on saturday morning, and was disappointed, though not surprised, to find that Neutrino, my last hummingbird of 2015 has left. No hummer activity at all over the last 3 days. Lots of salvias in bloom, but no customers. Here is a video I shot to show the rosebud salvias, viewed from my favorite corner of the front deck. You can also glimpse red maples turning scarlet on the opposite hillside. I was fllming into the glare of the low sun, which accounts for the splotches of light 9and probbly my lens needs cleaning)  Sorry about the 'background" noise (leaf-blowers and a very noisy hedge trimmer) coming up from the valley below. "Landscapers" were hard at work all day, from 10 am to 6.15 pm (after sunset) making sure no leaves from the surrounding forest were left on my neighbor's small lot. Tomorrow will bring new leaves, and perhaps more "landscaping", but I will not be here. A sisyphean, pointless and cacophonous routine, almost all year round. It's at times like this when I dream of England, where no-one would be rude enough to use a leaf-blower. But there are no hummingbirds either there.

Report from the Sanctuary: Neutrino in residence and up close!

After over a week of bad weather and slightly better work, I returned to the sanctuary expecting not to see any more hummingbirds. Almost all the feeders were empty and many had blown down, but quickly I saw this fine fellow (I'll call him Neutrino in honor of today's Physics Laureates) visiting the only full feeder that had not become blocked by pollen. Be sure to view the video at 1040P resolution!

Judging from the body shape think it's a young male, though there's no hint of red on the throat. Many of the flowers are in great shape, but there was clearly a lot of wind, with debris everywhere, and many of the feeders down. After a rather difficult week it's a delight to be here, I instantly feel happier, healthier and more relaxed, though half an hour of my neighbors' "landscaping" with very noisy leaf-blowers did dent the relaxation. But back to work tomorrow!

first day of fall; hi-res hummer posing and feeding; cape honeysuckle

Because of work, bad weather etc I've not been at the sanctuary for a week - but I suspect I've not missed much. Probably all my hummers are gone, but I'll see tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's a brief video I shot showing sunset on the first day of fall. Note that now it's setting over land - in fact very near Old Field Point where it set exactly on the last evening of summer (see my last post). It will set over western Long Island for the next 6 months.

 A few months ago I "upgraded" my computer to the new MacBook - the 12 inch Retina model. While the screen is a bit bigger than my "old" 11 inch MacAir, and many other details are better (especially the super-sharp Retina screen), it has big problems even though it was rated as the best laptop ever. Several of the keys don't work well (they changed the keyboard technology and have not yet worked through the bugs). And though the new version of Imovie is in some ways better, I need to learn a lot of new stuff. The bottom line here though is that I've been frustrated that when I upload video to Youtube for this blog, they were showing up at lower resolution than using the old Mac (740P instead of 1040P). Well I finally discovered why, and here's a clip uploaded at the proper resolution. It's from 10 days ago and shows a  young hummer perching on a stalk of bog sage and feeding at the sugary flowers of rosebud sage (4X slo mo):

Finally here's a hummerless clip of my Cape Honeysuckle, Tecomaria capensis, which is finally blooming after remaining mute all summer. In the Bahamas it's a hummingbird favorite but here, after a winter indoors, it only gets going as the hummers leave.

hummers are back!

It seems as  though the low activity yesterday was fluke: numbers have picked up again - but we probably have only a couple of weeks more. Here's some video I shot 2 days ago. The hummer is feeding mainly at the red flowers of Salvia greggi (Autumn Sage) "Cherry Queen".

On sept 22 (the Autumn Equinox) the setting sun, which has been swiftly moving southward in the last 2 weeks, was exactly at Old Field Point.  For 6 months it's been setting over the sea (more exactly LI Sound) but now for the next 6 months it will set over land.
Last weekend I showed the sanctuary and the hummingbirds to the Facilities Manager of the 4H Camp, Bob Peck and his charming companion Katherine. They were fascinated by all the hummer activity. They walked over from their home,  the "Ranger House", quite close to me, where they maintain a hummingbird feeder, and get occasional visits. This confirms what I always thought - the hummers prefer the areas near the bluff, though I do see them regularly in the parking lot and along the Woodland Walk, by means of which  my invited hummingbird enthusiasts arrive at the sanctuary area, essentially unobserved or heard by my neighbors. I'm very lucky that my 3.4 acre property was never subdivided and runs all the way from the Mean High Water mark just above the Sound, to the Parking Lot (about 1000 feet). This means that the visitors walk entirely on my property after driving up Terry Farm Rd, finally reaching the cottages and the main blufftop viewing area.  I've also been very careful to preserve all the trees on my property, so my neighbors look out on a sea of green. It's a Nature Preserve, as well as a sanctuary for hummingbirds - as it has been for thousand of years. And as you know the views, 25 miles west, east and north, are almost unparalled on Long Island. I hope it can be kept this way for ever, for the enjoyment of all hummer-lovers.

A visit to Long Island Plants; activity starting to fall

Until today the above clip of a hummingbird attack (one of the birds then goes on to feed unmolested) was a very typical scene which has played out many times every day since early august. But today I've only seen a couple of hummers here, one of then a young bird with a short beak feeding on jewelweed.

Just in time I went out on monday to see Bill Koller's place in Medford, where he runs Long Island Hummingbird Plants. As in previous years he is hosting at least 3 very active hummers, buzzing around the magnificent plants (all top-notch hummer-friendly) that flourish in his yard. His Salvia involucrata is the tallest I've ever seen, and his Pachystachys lutea, S "Phyllis's fancy" and numerous other superbly grown varieties (including a rampant Mina lobata, tall cardinal flowers, were amazing, and clearly appreciated by his flying jewels. Bill observes his hummers closely, and has an way of getting inside their avian thoughts, almost as though he is involved in their lives.
He still has some wonderful plants, excellently grown and in peak condition, for sale, and while we are sadly nearing the end of the season, now is to the best time to acquire some new beauties so that late-visiting birds on their way south will remember your place on their return to the Island in late spring.

Hummingbirds still very active at the sanctuary: some recent videos; depositions

The first 2 clips show rosebud salvia, the third Agastache cana, and the last one cardinal flow.

More of Daniel Hauben's work at the sanctuary

here's another of Daniel's evocative and exotic recent pastels at the sanctuary, entitled "Spanish Moss" :

and here's a photo of me and Daniel chatting while he's sketching me in a corner of a large oil canvas, taken by his charming and equally talented librettist-wife Judy:

Bill Koller's clever idea; boy hummer

SANCTUARY CLOSED UNTIL AUG 2015

Lovely recent photo by Johann Schumacher shows a young male (note the beginnings of the adult forked tail).

Bill Koller, at Long Island Hummingbird Plants , and his wife Peg came over for their regular Labor Day visit. Of course we discussed all matters hummingbird, and I told him that I was having problems with wasps and bees going for the tiny seeps of nectar where the cap screws on the minifeeders. They also go to the outlet (not Tanger!) but when these stick their head in, I simply quickly (that's the key to avoid being stung) squish them between thumb and forefinger. But those on the seeps (invisible to the naked eye) are more easily able to see and evade their looming doom.

Bill said he dealt with this problem by simple putting plumber's teflon tape on the screw part - brilliant. I tried it out yesterday and it really works. Bill still has some excellent hummer plants for those late arrivals (or, in the case of columbine, for those arriving in the spring.)