To Save a Hummingbird. Part 1: Why bother?

Why do I volunteer to save the population of this majestic bird?

1. Well the first reason is because it's fascinating that hummingbirds are the fastest animal on Earth in terms of body-size.
2. The second reason why I volunteer with hummingbirds is the most important: I think they will tell us about where the North American continent is heading.

To understand my second reason better, we need to understand that hummingbirds are not only fast, but they also have the longest migratory route than any other North American animal. The species I monitor, Rufous, travel all the way from Southern Mexico, through the Rocky Mountains, up the West Coast, and to Northern Alaska. That is a lot of ground (and sky) covered by one animal and the hummingbird connects it all together, every year, when they make that travel. Think about all the individual flowers, trees, and resting spots that a single hummingbird networks together on Earth in one single trip. So if hummingbird fails to make it’s trip from the South to North, we might lose that entire network.

While hummingbirds may not travel as fast as the speed of light to time travel, they can tell us about what is store in the future. If the population of hummingbird dwindles significantly, we’ll know that we’re quite possibly disrupting their network. Unfortunately, their population is already showing signs of reduction. That’s why I volunteer to help out my city’s Hummingbird Monitoring Network keep an eye on the population.

In this blog series, I will be documenting the process of catching, tracking, and monitoring a hummingbird. Hopefully, this might also raise some more awareness about this unique bird and how human activity affects them.

One of the most exhilarating parts about volunteering with hummingbirds is getting to release them. We didn't quite catch this one take (they're that fast!) but I will be uploading more of these releases during this blog series. My next posts will also be answering questions like why is the hummingbird just lying in my hand? Stay tuned!