What with this summer breaking record after record for high temperatures across North America, those who maintain hummingbird feeders are reminded to keep their supplies of sugar water and cleaning tools ready at hand as feeders should be cleaned and refilled twice each week during periods of very warm weather. Also, somewhat counter-intuitively, decreasing the amount of nectar used in each filling may be appropriate as hummingbirds often experience decreased levels of appetite and activity during periods of unusually high temperatures (however be sure to keep those birdbaths fully filled at all times).
For those interested in learning more about hummingbirds, Hummingbirds: A Celebration of Nature’s Jewels by Glenn Bartley and Andy Swash is seeing its U.S. edition being published by Princeton University Press on July 26th (the U.K. edition was published by Princeton as well to great acclaim this past April).
Part of the WILDGuides series of books, of which lead author Andy Swash and contributor Robert Still are the series editors, Hummingbirds takes its readers on an expertly guided, lavishly photo illustrated tour through the lives and biology of these remarkable little birds. Covering all 101 genera and over two-thirds of the 369 described species of hummingbirds, this is book that will certainly be of interest to all those interested in birds and to hummingbird enthusiasts in particular.
