Instruction courses (school or internet) about Hummingbirds

16 years ago

I hope someone can help me out here. My wife and I live in the UK as UK residents. Our grandson Jamie, is shortly to move with his parents to Oklahoma and will be there for around three years. My wife and I live next to natural woodland and we delight in a wide variety of woodland birds visiting our garden. Indeed, we encourage it with bird tables, feeders etc., Jamie, who is 12 years of age, has for a long time loved these birds but he has an absolute passion about Hummingbirds whic we do not have in our country. He's over the moon about his coming to the US because he knows he will see them. However, he has asked us if we would find out if there are any instruction courses about Hummers either in schools, colleges or on the internet because he wants to learn all about them, their feeding patterns, their magratory habits.....everything. We would like to encourage him in this so iof anyone knows of any instruction courses, anywhere, then we would be very pleased to know. Jamie has an aunt in Iowa and he will be visitng her from time to time so he will have lots of opportunites to see them.

Help in this would be much appreciated,

Regards,

David B Johnson Nottinghamshire UK

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

ctnchpr
16 years ago
Hi David,

Jamie can get lots of information by reading this forum. It will give him real-life questions and answers about the rough-and-tumble world of hummingbirds.

Jamie, welcome to the US of A!! I think you'll love your time here.
jimmyjojo
16 years ago
I haven't heard of any specific internet courses. I've picked up most of my hummingbird information from the library.

This is a very good site to glean information.
www.hummingbirds.net

These are some good books to look for:

It's a Hummingbird's Life by Irene Kelly

Hummingbird Gardens by Nielsen

First Flight : A Mother Hummingbird's Story

The World of the Hummingbird

Plus -
Attenborough's "The Life of Birds" is an interesting documentary. He can probably find it at the library.

This is a snip from it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujN4osRD22E

-Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: Attenborough
Related Discussions
Egads! We Have To Make A Quick Decision On SAT Prep Course! Help!
Q
Comments (13)
I should add that I was trained/certified/highly in demand tutor (was asked for a lot by both NY cos. who were sponsoring schools and schools themselves, also had brisk private tutoring business) for both PR and SK at different times, but that ended about 15 years ago...so 1) I have an inside view of both organizations and materials and 2) it was a long time ago :). IMO the PR materials were always more insightful and canny than the SK materials; no offense to SK, because the organization was much more comfortable to work for than PR, but I do have to hand it to PR for better researchers/writers, some of whom I used to know and hang with a bit back in the day (including the founders...those were crazy times)... And Elizabeth, you'll note that I *did* leave a possibility for group instruction, in my second-to-last paragraph. It just seems to me to be a more diluted, general approach and more costly, even though when you sign up for a group you get a certain number of hours of private tutoring at a reduced price, or at least you used to...with private tutoring, you don't need to spend as much, IME, and if you do, you know that the time is totally devoted to your child's needs, not the needs of other children that are not relevant to yours... Of course I'm hoping that by the time my DD is at that bridge, the whole test culture will have imploded and disappeared :) -- I agree w/mary 228 that more and more good schools are willing to look at other factors besides standardized tests, which shows great perspicacity on their parts, IMO :)
...See More
The internet hate machine
Q
Comments (16)
What a timely topic. The way the internet is commonly used is beginning to frighten me - I think the behavior on the internet is a reflection of our very angry and self indulgent society. My husband and I were commenting on this very thing over dinner last night. In times past, the big issue which involved anger and hatred, agression and discrimination involved race. That behavior is no longer acceptable, thank God. I now believe it's politics. When did we all become so polarized by how we feel the country should be run and when did we decide that one party was morally superior over the other? The hatred and vicious, agressive name calling spewing by both parties on the internet has me fearful about the road people are taking in this country. Your example is another. Of course what the boys did to this cat (and the choice to record it) is a terrible and very dangerous sign of personality disorder in them both. Those boys need to be watched carefully for decades. But, posting their addresses? To me, whoever did that and whoever acts upon that information - frankly, that is another kind of symptom of the same type of personality disorder. It's not quite so "in your face" frightening, but it's a very bold, aggressive act which can be used under the cloak of secrecy. It's this secrecy of bad behavior that makes the way we use the internet so dangerous. The internet seems to provide so many with a blanket to hid under while behaving in the very worst possible way. A way they would be (I so hope!) deeply ashamed over if seen by people they deeply admire and respect. I find it all frightening. Not the internet. Us.
...See More
How do ya'll feel about high school reunions?
Q
Comments (43)
I went to the 25th of the high school I would have graduated from if we hadn't moved to FL before I was a senior. It was a blast, I had so much fun and it was great to see how the young kids I knew growing up turned out into lovely adults. I got to see my old neighbor, Ted, who was just a rotten kid and a troublemaker, now he's married and responsible and a family man, that was special. Woody went with me but left after the dinner, we had a long drive ahead of us the next day. I was having too much fun to leave, some of the "kids" looked exactly the same and others were unrecognizable. All of them were nice, though. It was a fun evening, 2 actually, we had an informal meeting at a pub type place the first night and the country club the 2nd night. The only sad part was watching the same 2 women get totally plastered each night. I felt really bad about that, what a waste for 43 year old women. It was embarrassing to watch. I'm glad I went though, it really was helpful for me to stop imagining everyone as 16 year olds and see them all grown up.
...See More
All Pennsylvania schools closed for the rest of the school year
Q
Comments (16)
There is a HUGE difference between closed and distance learning mode. Here in MN we are distance learning..and will continue until the end of the school year which for us is on average early June. On the one hand I envy the 12 States that just cancelled the school year. It is soooo much more work to PULL students to do the work --from a distance. My parents are overwhelmed by the technology and the daily forcing of discipline to do the school work they have to do with their kids each day. They were not in the habit of enforcing any expectation on their teens and this is a brave new world for them. Our teachers were told to water down their curriculum to the bare minimum..half hour per subject each day. Students are home, babysitting, perhaps with one shared device among 2 or more students... BUT even though my students balk they are also bored and this gives them something to focus on, a reason to not game 24/7 staying up all night..boredom is the enemy. The irony is the learning is watered down and then students to the minimum but the effort by the adults to get them to the end is double or more than teaching ever was.
...See More
rita_h
16 years ago
I don't know about formal courses, but for general info for online self-study (results from a quick google search):

http://hummingbirdwebsite.com/
http://hummingbirdworld.com/
http://www.birdwatchers.com/debtips.html
http://e-hummingbirds.com/
rembetika
16 years ago
Hello over there!
I have to say, that is so cool and wonderful that your grandson is so interesting in these amazing birds.. and how great it is that you want to encourage him!! ( I wish more American kids were interested in them!) Anyway... I also do not know of any courses.. but i think most people just learn from sharing knowledge on the internet. He will soon find out that there are many fanatics out here.. so he will probably have a ball talking to others who share his passion. His parents also might want to think about taking him on a trip to the Rockport Hummingbird Festival (in Texas-- I have never been to this)-- or other field trips, maybe even to Costa Rica. There's probably some local groups in Oklahoma who do field trips and share stories. Tell him, that all he has to do is look up 'hummingbird behavior, migration, breeds, feeding habits', etc etc on the 'net and he will find enough information to keep him busy for the rest of his life. ALSO.... on YouTube, he will probably enjoy videos of the hummers in Costa Rica, or other entries people have sent in of their own close-up films, in their backyard.. there's also lots of films of folks feeding by hand.. here's an article:
http://www.longbraid.com/articlehummingbirds.html

..and there's even a video that he would probably LOVE to recieve:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Hand-Feed-Hummingbirds-Michael-Baughman/dp/B0002LTEC2

and to go along with this, is the small and easy to use Perky Pet 3 oz feeder, that he could use to practice getting close to them, by holding it:

http://www.shop.com/0-p45093850-k36-g1-~perky+pet+3+oz+hanging+basket+feeder-nover-s.shtml

Also, please tell him to join in here, we would love to meet him and hear his experiences!
rembetika
16 years ago
Oh and I almost forgot.. he may want to get involved with the Hummingbird Roundup.. entering his data into the survey, etc:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/texas_nature_trackers/hummingbird_roundup/

And of course HB gardening would be a great activity he & his parents could do together. I just think it is so cool to see a kid interested in HBs, and a boy yet. This is the first ever that I have heard of, although probably many folks on this forum have kids who are into them (?). All American kids seem to care about today is violent video games, text messaging, My Space, etc.
Maybe if he does HB gardening his interest will expand to include the butterflies too, since they like a lot of the same flowers.. and they need all the help they can get since we have destroyed so much of their habitat.
bevinga
16 years ago
Hi There!
I do hope your grandson and his parents have a wonderful, positive experience over here! Who knows? In three years, Jaime just might develop a little "Southern Drawl" from living in Oklahoma! :)

Here's a link to a post from back in the spring/early summer here on GardenWeb. This person (who I think is in California) has a live feed camera attached to the rosebush where his/her hummingbird nests. I know I was able to watch one baby hatch, as well as watch the mother feed her babies. It was really interesting. I don't think there is a live feed at this particular time since there are no more nesting mommies, but I think this person has provided a link to videos from this nesting/hatching/nurturing season. They also stated that the hummers usually start laying eggs again in December. If you bookmark the site, you will be able to check it off and on to see if they have started the live feed again.

Hummingbird Nest Cam

Hope you find time to come visit your family sometime over the next three years!

Blessings,
Beverly in Georgia

Instruction courses (school or internet) about Hummingbirds

Comments (6)

ctnchpr

jimmyjojo

Related Discussions

rita_h

rembetika

rembetika

bevinga

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US