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Bird of the Month!
In order to keep readers more engaged and content more engaging, I've decided to add a "Bird of the Month" feature to my blog and website. At the beginning of each month, I'll highlight a different bird in a new blog. The initial birds will most likely be everyday species from North America that have something in relation to whichever month it happens to be (relating to nesting, migration, or new interesting scientific articles from scholarly sources such as Cornell and Audubon).
All products containing the featured "Bird of the Month" will then be on sale in my store for the remainder of that month! I look forward to sharing a new species and their own unique stories each month! Although it is the middle of March, this is actually a very appropriate time to share my first bird of the month. Many are currently making their way north after flying nonstop nearly 600+ miles across the Gulf of Mexico. For us living in eastern North America, the arrival of the beloved Ruby-Throated Hummingbird signals the official start of spring!
Here at Timber Tiger Treasures headquarters in Dacula, GA, we see our first (male) migrants arriving quite early compared to those up north. In 2016, it was the first week of April that I first spotted what looked like an exhausted male drinking at our nectar feeder.
Last spring of 2017, we noticed a female at our back feeder exactly one week earlier than the male of the previous year. I'm assuming this was due to having established nectar feeders in our yard for at least one whole year.
This year, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our hummingbirds once again, and the nectar feeders have been out for almost one week now. I'll keep you all up to date on our first arrival of this year! (All these records of sightings I've mentioned can also be viewed on the internet birding database "ebird," which is an awesome site run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.)
The hummers in our yard really peak during the month of August, when all the new babies and parents come to our feeders and fight for a chance to feed. They can be extremely territorial, stabbing at one another with their long, sharp bills in an attempt to keep others away from "their" feeder.
Our favorite type of nectar feeder is the kind that sticks to a window, allowing us to really get an extremely close view of each visitor as he or she perches and feeds.
One of my favorite sketches was inspired by a photograph I took of a female hummingbird that perched on our window feeder. The mid-morning lighting really lit up her iridescent feathers and allowed for an amazingly detailed study:
I plan on adding even more hummingbird sketches to my store, showing them in motion. They almost never stop moving!
Please feel free to comment on this blog with any questions in reference to anything I've mentioned. All Ruby-Throated Hummingbird products will be 30% off for the remainder of the month of March!
