Welcome to my new Blog. I hope you all had a good summer. I am here in South Texas outside of Houston where the temp will climb to 100 today, but summer is over in my garden as the hummingbirds bring in the Fall Migration. The focus of the new Blog will be Nature around me in Northern Waller County, Texas. As I built a Bird Sanctuary in the woods on Rainbow Creek, birds are my main interest. I photodocument the migration of Hummingbirds and Turkey Buzzards/Black Vultures. Cardinals live here year round and I catch all phases of babyhood and development. I share my point and shoot amateur photos on G+ Photos and Google Blogger.
I encourage all of you to experience a bird habitat, photograph your birds and post them on Google. These photos are excellent field notes for the Scientists who study birds and migrations. In time, Google will be able to map our birds and count. I hope my effort here will stimulate creative ideas for you and enjoyment of Nature.
I have many surprises coming for you this season. Please check out my last Blog for posts on last years hummingbird migration (Aug & Sep): katescabinbirdsanctuaryintexas@googleblogspot.com .
A special Hello to all my friends on G+!!!!! I hope you find me here. I have been unplugged from the internet all summer, but I have kept you all near my heart and in my prayers. I look forward to catching up with all of YOU.
If your location is South Texas: Hang Your Feeders, the Hummers are coming in!
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041862931826100529/6041863070890655762?pid=6041863070890655762&oid=117645114459863049265
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041980390266528305/6041984308542348690?pid=6041984308542348690&oid=117645114459863049265
JULY 24 count: 3
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041980390266528305/6041980779649533026?pid=6041980779649533026&oid=117645114459863049265
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041980390266528305/6041980400240117730?pid=6041980400240117730&oid=117645114459863049265
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird
Hummingbird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hummingbirds are New World birds that constitute the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm (3–5 in) range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm bee hummingbird, weighing less than a penny (about 2.5g).
They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at high frequencies audible to humans. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing flapping rates, typically around 50 times per second,[1] but possibly as high as 200 times per second, allowing them also to fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h; 34 mph),[2] backwards or upside down.[3][4]
Hummingbirds have the highest metabolism of any homeothermic animal.[5] To conserve energy when food is scarce, they have the ability to go into a hibernation-like state (torpor) where their metabolic rate is slowed to 1/15th of its normal rate.[6]
| Hummingbird | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Female black-chinned hummingbird | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Subclass: | Neornithes |
| Infraclass: | Neognathae |
| (unranked): | Cypselomorphae |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae Vigors, 1825 |
Migration[edit]
Most hummingbirds of the U.S. and Canada migrate south in fall to spend winter in Mexico or Central America. A few southern South American species also move north to the tropics during the southern winter. A few species are year-round residents in the warmer coastal and southern desert regions of the USA. Among these are Anna's hummingbird, a common resident from California inland to Arizona and north to the southwestern coastal and south-central interior of British Columbia, and buff-bellied hummingbird, an uncommon resident in subtropical woodlands of southern Texas.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate from as far north as all regions of Ontario south to Central America and Mexico via direct crossings of the Gulf of Mexico or coastal Texas.[53]
The rufous hummingbird is one of several species that breed in temperate western North America and winter in increasing numbers in the warm subtropical southeastern United States, rather than in tropical Mexico. By migrating in spring as far north as the Yukon or southern Alaska,[1] the rufous hummingbird nests farther north than any other hummingbird species and must tolerate occasional temperatures below freezing in its breeding territory. This cold hardiness enables it to survive temperatures below freezing, provided that adequate shelter and food are available.
The northward migration of rufous hummingbirds occurs along the Pacific flyway[1] and may be time-coordinated with flower and tree leaf emergence in spring in early March, and also with availability of insects as food.[54] Arrival at breeding grounds before nectar availability from mature flowers may jeopardize breeding opportunities, a factor of phenology possibly determining future migratory patterns linked to climate change.[55]
(Please see link for complete article)July 26:
The quick clips are created by Google Auto Backup. They use a series of my pics in G+Photo Albums.
This feature is automatic if you have Picasa and G+. I think they are fun! (Thanks Googlers!)
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041984691984996993/6041987358070404594?pid=6041987358070404594&oid=117645114459863049265
Watching and Waiting for the others
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041984691984996993/6041989468939913346?pid=6041989468939913346&oid=117645114459863049265
...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek. See You next time! Be good to yourself and the Birds!
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/6041984691984996993/6041989450506262082?pid=6041989450506262082&oid=117645114459863049265
O+O
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