Hummingbirds: Feathered Jewels of Summer

I had one of those jewels of the bird world visit my geranium last week – yes, a hummingbird. As I do every summer, I started out early with a brightly colored feeder filled with the sweetest of sugar water. And, as they do almost every summer: they ignored it. But they do something else every summer, at least in my yard: they visit the nectar-bearing flowers. They are most noticeable when the hostas are blooming in August. But I have also seen them on my zinnias, which I knew attracted butterflies, but I had never noticed a hummingbird on them before.

One thing that struck me about the hummingbird’s attraction to the hosta flowers, is that those flowers are white, not red, like most of the hummingbird feeder and feed mixes available. It turns out that hummingbirds are more interested in the sweetness of the nectar than they are in the color of the flower.

I think everyone who attracts hummingbirds counts themselves lucky. If you want to attract them with flowers keep these guidelines in mind: the sweeter the flower the better; tubular shaped flowers are best for hummingbirds; and you should provide flowers that bloom over a long period of time. You can accomplish this by providing a succession of blooms from spring through fall. For a list of flowers that should do the trick, Birdsandblooms.com/hummingbirds has some useful information including pictures of the flowers they recommend.

Besides nectar, hummingbirds also eat insects, favoring those that are minute enough to be swallowed whole. They have been observed hovering at the bark of a tree, hunting for those tiny spiders and insects. Researchers in Michigan counted ruby-throated hummingbirds as the primary visitors to the small pits that yellow-bellied sapsuckers had drilled into trees to capture sap. The hummers ate the sap as well as the insects they found that were also attracted to the sap.

It is generally accepted that hummingbirds originated in the equatorial belt region across South America. That is where the greatest number of species has been found. Of the 320 species of hummingbirds known, more than half live in that region, with diminishing numbers of species found as you move north and south of the equator. Costa Rica supports 54 species, Mexico has 51 species, western North America has 12, and eastern North America has only one: the ruby-throated.

The ruby-throated hummingbird breeds as far north as southern Canada, and may winter as far south as Panama. When they migrate across the Gulf of Mexico, it requires them to make a continuous flight of more than 500 miles. How long would that take, you wonder? Thanks to studies conducted by Crawford Greenewalt we know that the top speed of a female ruby-throat is 27 miles per hour. So, at top speeds, this leg of the journey would take over eighteen hours!

How lovely for us to have this one unique, feathered jewel of summer, to bring their special beauty to our gardens.

Are Small-Scale Farmers the Answer?

I was intrigued recently when I read that the US government has determined that there is not enough domestic production of fruits and vegetable to meet the minimum RDA (Recommended daily allowance) provided by their own dietary guidelines.

The recent emergence of local food production as a concern that is held by increasing numbers of the population got me to wondering just how much land would be required to meet the nutritional needs of the population. Or, in the words of the recent PBS program “America Revealed”: How many local farmers would it take to feed 300 million Americans every day? Unfortunately, no answer was given.

So I decided to sit down and do some math. I considered a very basic, plant-based diet – something that anyone with a small plot of land – whether urban or rural – could cultivate. I compared yields per acre with amounts required to meet daily nutritional needs. I did not consider such variables as crop losses due to pests, spoilage, or other factors. I used average dietary guidelines for calories (2200 calories per day), protein (51 grams per day), and the major vitamins and minerals.

My diet included apples, beans, broccoli, corn (fresh and dry), grapes for raisins, oats, onions, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and soybeans for milk. I chose foods that could be easily stored or processed and therefore available throughout the year.

Using this plan, I found that one would require a bit more than a third of an acre per person to meet their daily nutritional needs. This amounts to 1.5 acres for a family of four.

In my scenario all nutritional requirements were met or exceeded except vitamins B6 (it came very close!) and B12.

So, can local, small-scale farmers meet these nutritional needs? To do so, a city of 10,000 inhabitants would require 3,700 acres of local production. Such acreage is not out of the realm of possibility in the American Midwest. Illinois farms alone cover more than 28 million acres. With a total population of around 13 million, only 4.8 million acres would be required to meet these nutritional demands in the state of Illinois.

Another way to look at it is to consider today’s small-scale farmer. The average acreage managed by the small-scale farmer has been estimated to range from less than 1 acre to 22 acres. With numbers like these, a town of 10,000 inhabitants would require 170 farms of 22 acres each.

On the national level, there are over 400 million acres in crop production in the United States. With a population of 311 million, only 115 million acres would be required to meet most of our nutritional demands.

In this analysis, numerous questions are raised. Among them: Are small-scale farms up to the task of providing significant food value to the population? Is quality farm land accessible to urban centers? If America can meet its nutritional needs and isn’t, why not? How economically feasible is to produce food crops on a small scale as compared to the large scale production model currently in place?

Regardless of the answers, it is satisfying to know that a person could meet their own nutritional needs on a small parcel of land – assuming no crop losses due to pests, agreeable weather throughout the growing season, and the time and energy to grow, harvest, and preserve this bountiful harvest.