It’s time to fill the hummingbird feeders ~ May 29, 1997

David Heiller

Goldfinches, 
the old standby.

This spring is going to the birds.

It’s too chilly to get excited about the garden. The Twins are in the tank. But wow, the birds are something else.

Many people have commented about how glorious the birds are this year.

And not just at the feeder. Cindy and I were driving home from church on Sunday when we saw a bald eagle sitting in the top of a poplar tree, right at the side of County Road 46, a mile west of Sturgeon Lake.

Sharp shinned hawk

We pulled off the road to get a closer look. He didn’t like that, and away he flew, carried by air currents we couldn’t even feel.

Red Hansen has a hawk at his feeders. Red doesn’t know how to handle the situation. The hawk is just following its instinct, and Red is respectful of that. On the other hand, it’s hard to see those songbirds get picked off.

Red stepped out of his shop one day, and there came the hawk about head high, right past him. Red had a stick in his hand, and he instinctively took a swipe at it. Red landed on his back-side and the hawk went on his way.

At the feeder outside our window.

Everybody seems to have bird stories. Dale Alberg told about the rose breasted grosbeaks at his feeder. My mom commented on the orioles at her feeder, how they are eating oranges that she puts out.

Ag Jaros of Willow River called me on Friday night and told me to tell the readers of the Askov American that they should put out their hummingbird feeders because the hummingbirds are as thick as flies and hungry as horses.

Ag Jaros is like Merrill Lynch. When she talks, people listen. If you have ever talked to Ag on the telephone, you know what I mean. She actually doesn’t need a phone. She could have put down the receiver and I still could have heard her, even though she was 12 miles away. She has a voice that booms.

We had a sad hummingbird event last week. Our son, Noah, was playing basketball when he heard a thump and a hummingbird fell dead his feet. For some reason it had flown straight into the backboard.

I took it into the house and laid it on a towel. Its tube-like tongue dripped out so the red nectar it had drunk from our feeder. Noah is going to take the bird to his science teacher.

Sunday night, Cindy and I stood at the kitchen window and marveled at the birds around our feeders. In one place at one time we saw orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, blue jays purple finches, gold finches, ,a downy woodpecker, a nuthatch, and, last but not least, chickadees.

Between sips.

If we are seeing that many birds in this day and age, how many birds did people see 50 or 100 years ago? Maybe people didn’t feed them like we do now.

It’s hard to put a value on birds. What is it worth, watching an oriole devour an orange, or seeing 30 goldfinches on the ground at one time? Maybe it’s priceless. It’s worth at least the cost of the sunflower seeds that we buy in 50-pound bags, or the oranges we cut in half, or the nectar we make by mixing one cup of sugar to four cups of water.

Birds bring great joy to people’s lives. Now go fill those hummingbird feeders.