Ernest now continues hummingbird genetic work as a professor at the University of Wyoming, where she moved last year. Professor Emeritus Holly Ernest founded the Hummingbird Health and Conservation Program while she was a wildlife geneticist at UC Davis. (Don Preisler/UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine photo) Hummingbird research She will then give the bird a health checkup, band and release it. Program Director Lisa Tell reaches into a trap to gently catch a hummingbird from the netting.
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Then, with the steady hands of a surgeon, Tell attaches an aluminum band the size of a basmati rice grain around the leg of any new captures.Ĭheckup complete, they feed and then place the hummingbird in the palm of their hand, where it vibrates softly until the bird realizes it is free and-in a blink-launches off into the trees. Band of birdersĪt a table overlooking the garden, Tell, a federally permitted master bander, and student volunteers Emilie Graves, Shannon Skalos and Nicole Mikoni delicately give a health checkup for each hummingbird that they catch in a specialized trap.Īfter softly wrapping the bird in a small mesh bag, they assess the age of the hummingbird, count the iridescent feathers on its throat, measure its bill and wing length, and check for feather molt and tail mites. “I probably transplanted about half of the arboretum here,” joked Kusch, whose property abutting Putah Creek in Winters was mostly dirt and weeds when he arrived. Most of these flowering plants were bought over the past 30 years from UC Davis Arboretum plant sales and planted specifically to attract pollinators like bees and hummingbirds. Salvia, California fuschia, bladderpod, aloe and others important to hummingbird health dot the garden in bright bursts of color. While the program’s volunteers, staff and faculty come to trap, band and release hummingbirds - sometimes 50 in a morning - the hummingbirds come for the flowers. “You have to establish what’s normal so when you have a problem, you know it’s not normal.” Flowers: hummingbird magnets “For any animal species, if you care about them, you need to do preventative health,” said Lisa Tell, director of the Hummingbird Health and Conservation program and an avian disease veterinarian in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Other red-flowered sages are also excellent.
Pruning them to keep them bushy will help increase its show of flowers. Flame, Scott's Red, Furman's Red and other varieties are great for their long season of bloom both in spring and again in fall. This small shrubby plant comes in a number of red-flowered cultivars that are attractive to hummingbirds. It requires sun or part shade and low water. Plant in front of a window, and you will be sure to see hummingbirds hovering and feeding on its nectar, then resting on the flower stems. Red and orange flowered aloe species like Aloe X spinosissima and Aloe striata and aloe hybrids provide a banquet of nectar for hummingbirds in March and April. It performs best when shaded from hot afternoon summer sun. It blooms in winter and very early spring with dangling clusters of pink flowers that provide an important food source for our local Anna's hummingbird that overwinters here. This is a native shrub found in the Vaca Mountains by Davis. With attractive curling hairs on the leaf edges, it’s good as an accent plant and is tough enough to take lots of sun and little water. Long stalks of coral pink flowers arch out from this fibrous-leaved, spiky plant in spring and summer.
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The plant spread underground and is best kept in full sun with only a few summer irrigations. Its flowers are a magnet for hummingbirds. Varieties range from silvery 3-foot tall ones to dwarf, dark-green foliage ones. Tubular red-orange flowers hold lots of nectar in summer and fall. Look for these plants on her list at the Arboretum Plant Sale on Saturday, April 25. We asked UC Davis Arboretum director of public horticulture Ellen Zagory for the best, drought-tolerant plants that attract hummingbirds. California fuchsia is a magnet for hummingbirds.
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