If you’ve noticed your hummingbird feeder hasn’t had too many visitors this summer, you’re not alone. Listener Pete Peters says he and his neighbors usually see lots of them around this time. But this year? None.
For today’s Carolina Curious, WFDD’s Amy Diaz spoke to an expert on these tiny, jewel-like birds to find out where they’ve been.
In North Carolina, our only breeding species is the ruby-throated hummingbird. The males have an iridescent, red patch on their necks, as you might guess from their name.
Susan Campbell’s been studying these creatures since 1999. She’s a wildlife ecologist and a lead hummingbird researcher in the state. She says she gets questions like this one a lot. There’s a simple answer, and a more complicated one. We’ll start small.
“First thing I will say is this: that the number of hummingbirds in anybody's yard or property during the course of the breeding season when they're here changes dramatically," she said. "And so nobody, I would say with pretty good certainty across the state, has a lot of hummingbirds from start to finish, from April through September. Generally, when they return here to breed, their breeding activities actually consume them such that they are not frequent at flowers and at feeders.”
They’re often busy looking for tiny bugs to eat — protein. But as the season progresses, Campbell says people should see an uptick in hummingbird activity. They tend to be more noticeable later in the summertime. But there’s something else going on here too.
“I would say over the last 10 years, we have noticed significant changes in the numbers of hummingbirds in places," Campbell said. "And basically, all of our songbirds that eat insects, that are insectivorous, are experiencing decline, and that is because of the fact that so many of our insect populations are and have been declining.”
If the birds can’t find food, they can’t raise their young. And if they don’t have young, there are fewer adults. It’s a domino effect. Campbell says one culprit is habitat alteration.
“When the vegetation changes or is removed, that is going to affect the insect population, i.e., fewer insects. And when you think of common landscape plants that people use, like azaleas and rhododendron, that kind of stuff may be a desert for these native insects," Campbell said. "They are not plants that they've evolved with. And so when you place the native stuff with the non-native stuff, you're creating a problem for these insects.”
Chemicals are another factor in insect decline. Things like pesticides, herbicides, industrial pollution and agricultural chemicals.
“And so when you get someplace, and it rains, no matter where you are, there's going to be this residual chemical coming down, and that is going to impact the insects," Campbell said. "Especially the very tiny, soft-shelled ones, like aphids and things. Those sorts of insects probably make up a good bit of the hummingbird's diet.”
Campbell says solving some of these problems would require global change, but there are things you can do to help as an individual.
Number one is to be aware that whatever you do that affects insects on your property will impact these birds. So you might want to limit the amount of chemicals you use in your yard, for example.
The other thing you can do is try to spread awareness. Talk to your neighbors or homeowners association about the value of planting for pollinators.
Campbell says if a lot of people make little changes, we might have a shot at improving their habitats. But if we lose these birds, she says we stand to lose much more.
“They've been called ‘winged gems’ by multiple cultures over thousands of years," Campbell said. "But, as I said, they are pollinators, and there are certain plants that have evolved with them that only they can really pollinate, and so there are relationships that they have within our food web that are important.”
There might even be aspects of hummingbird ecology that we don’t know about yet, but could impact the food web in other ways. And Campbell says they’re a great entry point for people to learn about the environment.
“When they see these birds and they start to learn about them, and realize how amazing they are, then they start noticing other things," she said. "They might start noticing the hummingbird moths. They may start noticing butterflies. They may start noticing other birds. And so they are one that can really grab people's attention, and then serve as a way for them to become aware of the world around them.”
They got our attention after all. And this time, not by flying past us, humming and shimmering ruby red. But by their absence. You have to admit, that’s a pretty special bird.