Hummingbirds are arriving; are you ready?

In my opinion, there’s no bird as interesting and fun to watch as hummingbirds. And they’re on the way through the area right now as they’re on their way north, according to the Birding Wire. In fact, ass per Perky-Pet’s birding website, a Rufous Hummingbird was spotted on 4-29-19 in Media, PA, and on 4-26-19, a Ruby-Throated was seen in Nesquehoning. 

If you share this interest in hummers, and maintain feeders, now’s the time to clean your hummingbird feeders if you haven’t already. Then fill them with fresh sugar-water nectar, either homemade or purchased. Then wait it out for one or more to appear. 

Spring migration, says the Birding Wire, can be an exciting time at hummingbird feeders with migrating birds stopping by for a short visit while others may wait it out with the idea of setting up a territory for nesting. It’s interesting to study their behavior and appreciate the journeys these tiny birds make. 

You can follow the northward migration of different species hummingbirds, including on a national level through the Perky- Pet migration map site at www.perky-pet.com/advice/bird-watching/hummingbird-migration. Here, you can zoom into the state and local level – even down to your street – to see when the first hummers may arrive. But, it’s suggested, don’t wait too long as they can literally appear overnight. 

Since it’s still early in the year, it’s hard to plan to have your yard’s flowering plants ready to greet migrating hummers with the hope of attracting them to stay. But you can probably buy some greenhouse-grown plants as it’s easy to keep them in a pot and move them where you want to attract hummers, like near a window or windows where you can see them. Tubular flowers seem to be best, especially red, orange and yellow colored flowers. Trumpet vines, one of their favorite flowers to get nectar from, are about to bloom as witnessed by those in my next-door neighbors’ yard. There’s also bee balm, cardinal flowers, trumpet honeysuckles, salvia – even red petunias may work. From this choice, the hummingbird experts say you can always add, remove and experiment with different plants. It’s all part of the fun of watching these speedy, fascinating and attractive birds. 

PGC WILL STUDY THEIR DECISION TO MOVE THE RIFLE DEER HUNTING OPENER TO A SATURDAY INSTEAD OF MONDAY

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, they will be studying their decision to move the deer hunting opener from the Monday after Thanksgiving to Saturday after the holiday. 

This comes amidst much controversy from hunters who are against it while others are for it. 
The PGC Commissioners will be looking to see if there’s evidence the Saturday opener increased hunting license sales and hunter success. And they’ll be gauging the opinion of hunters who have taken part of in the state’s first Saturday opener since 1963. Their findings will determine if their recent decision will provide the most benefit before they set an opening day for the 2020 firearms deer season. 
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