My hometown newspaper covered a hummingbird catch-and-release story back in August, talking about how hummingbirds are being banded for research, adopted by general public individuals, and released.

Courtesy of Catawba County Parks via Hickory Daily Record

What fascinated me is that these tiny little creatures, who’s wings move so quickly that we generally cannot see them, are much quicker than I even imagined.  The Hickory Daily Record story says that one bird, captured and banded last year, was recaptured and reported in Texas only 12 days later, averaging 89 miles a day.

Also, many of the birds have been documented as coming to the same park the same day, year after year.  Interesting.

That is crazy!

I am not sure exactly how I feel about capturing and banding hummingbirds at all, but I know I am for research and projects that promote and lead to conservancy.

On that note, check out the comments after the story to see many perspectives on both sides of the boundary.  You also get to see how many people think $20 to hold a hummingbird is a rip-off, though I think it should cost more than that.

Sustainably yours,  Ashley Sue

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 2:49 pm and is filed under NC, creatures, whatever (miscellaneous). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.