News

From Evolution © 2020 The Society for the Study of Evolution. Signal evolution and morphological complexity in hummingbirds  Chad M. Eliason, Rafael Maia, Juan L. Parra, Matthew D. Shawkey Hummingbirds are some of the most brightly-colored things in the entire world. Their iridescent feathers reflect light in a way that other birds can't match, and scientists weren't sure what made hummingbirds special. But a new study shows that while hummingbird feathers have the same basic makeup as other birds', the special shape of their pigment-containing structures enables them to reflect a rainbow of light. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/evo.13893

Counterfeit Alert: Beware! There are counterfeiters selling feeders that they claim are made by Aspects. The feeders look identical, but do not function identically. Be cautious when purchasing the feeder from Amazon as that is where the imitators are dropping their fraudulent product.  See How Amazon’s counterfeit problem reached a bird feeder manufacturer in Rhode Island

Those of you who are feeding their birds cane sugar/ sucrose may want to purchase a little extra. Sugar prices will surely be going up based on the USA/ China tariffs. Any sugar components sourced in China and used by USA sugar refiners will increase in price and you can bet that any domestically refined sugar will match the higher the higher tariff prices. I have not seen any reference to hummingbird feeders included in the tariffs. The United States Trade Representative released a list of everything that will be affected in the September 01 and December 15 tariffs These...

By Stacy Zogheib from eHow Refining raw cane sugar into white table sugar is a complicated process that involves hundreds of organic, inorganic and electrolytic materials. The sugar cane is cut, washed in hot water and pressed; the juice is then mixed with lime. The canes may also be burned, mixed with soda ash and exposed to a myriad of chemicals in order to clarify the sugar. Many of these chemicals can cause irritation to different parts of your body and, in high enough doses, some of them can even be poisonous or toxic. Sulfur Dioxide Cane sugar is naturally brown because...

Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds One of our favorites of early published research is the 20 volume series by Arthur Cleveland Bent, The Life Histories of North American Birds.  Bent, whose series was first published in 1940 under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, was one of the country’s outstanding ornithologists and this encyclopedic collection of life histories quickly became one of the classic sources of comprehensive information about the birds of North America. Dover Publications describes this series as “a group of first-hand, concrete observations of specific flocks throughout the continent, describing in readable language and copious detail...