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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable..
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
Outside my own roosting area, at the time of this writing, we still have a couple of die-hard hummingbirds.
Only a couple of weeks earlier there was a pretty good swarm of ruby-throats, a combination of local nesting birds and perhaps one or two passing migrants that were there for a bit of a rest stop. Most have since taken to the low-level airways to wing southward, headed eventually to southern Mexico or Central America.
Two little girl birds remain. I believe one of them is still with us so that she can continue to try to chase the other off the feeder. The queen of the shepherd’s hook wouldn’t want the other micro-hen to sip the provided sugar water unmolested.
Ruby-throated hummingbird migration peaks hereabouts in August and by now we are lucky to have the mere leftovers of our nesting bird population if any at all. Our nesting birds actually have a relatively short residence, only reliably here May-August, a mere four-month stretch. But just as some appear earlier, typically a smattering of early birds in April, there are possibilities of stragglers and late migrants all the way to early October, maybe even later.
People who put out hummingbird feeders long have pondered a troubling question: When should the feeders come down? There is a concern with many that feeders left too late in the year will seduce the little birds into staying too late. The temptation of man-made nectar, the four-to-one mix of water and sugar, might fool hummers into staying so long that they get ambushed by the early cold of the changing seasons, some worry.
That, we can say, is an old wives’ tale. Or perhaps it is a rumor precipitated by old husbands.
Ornithologists, the bird brains, have been telling us for some time that keeping sugar water-filled feeders out there will not convince hummingbirds to remain at our latitude longer than they should. Most birds will booger out of here in August, but some will linger later just because of individual differences.
Later migrators stay longer because that’s just them. They don’t do that because of the presence of feeders.
However, having feeders out in September and October, too, can benefit those hummers that do hang around well after the majority bolt south. In addition, late migrators from habitat ranges north of us can and will take advantage of feeders if they should pop in on their way to Latin latitudes. Those can use the sugar water offering as an easy and compact refueling station.
Most of the hummer activity for the season has come and gone. It won’t hurt the survival chances of the remnant birds if you want to take the feeders down now. Yet, if hummer helpers want to stay the course, the last of those tiny Mohicans will be pleased to sip your kitchen-prepared nectar in these season-ending days.
*More opening days of hunting seasons are happening today across Kentucky.
The mid-major occurrence today is the start of the state’s special early wood duck hunting season as well as the early teal season that runs in confluence.
The brief season, Sept. 17-21, gives waterfowlers the chance to take some home-grown woodies. These native birds, Kentucky’s own nesting ducks, as early migrators are typically gone by the time that the regular duck season opens statewide on Thanksgiving Day.
During the five-day September hunt, each hunter can take as many as two wood ducks in the daily bag limit.
Yet, the woody season overlaps the season during which Kentucky waterfowlers also can take blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal. These small ducks are not nesting birds here, but as very early migrators, teal can be encountered nowadays as they move through Kentucky habitats on the way southward.
During the five-day woody/teal season, the actual bag limit is six birds, as noted above, no more than two of which can be wood ducks. That means a hunter could take two wood ducks and as many as four teal, or, even in the absence of woodies, any number of teal not exceeding six.
After the five days allotted to the wood duck season, hunters who yearn for more early teal opportunities can go with the teal-only season that continues for four more days, Sept. 22-25. The bag limit during the teal-only season is a simple six-bird maximum.
Meanwhile, Kentucky’s early Canada goose hunting season for non-migratory, local nesting birds, started Friday and runs through Sept. 30. The daily limit on these home-hatched honkers is five. This, too, obviously overlaps with the wood duck/teal season, giving warm season waterfowlers chances for a well-mixed bag during the in-common hunting days.
*Today also marks the opening of the statewide (all-ages) crossbow hunting season for deer.
The first Saturday this month, Sept. 3, was the opening of the deer and turkey archery season as well as the 14-day exclusive stints of youth (under 16) and senior (65 and up) crossbow deer hunting. Today is the first day of the general crossbow deer season across Kentucky when hunters of any age can have a go at whitetails with the horizontal, pre-cocked bows.
The regular crossbow season runs fully Sept. 17-Jan. 16, running concurrently with archery deer season the rest of the way.
*Those who wish to participate in Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources-regulated quota hunts this fall and winter must apply online before the end of September to be included in the electronic drawing that awards permits for those.
Those hunts include quota deer hunts at 16 wildlife management areas statewide and five state parks including Kenlake State Resort Park.
Applications can be made only through the KDFWR website, www.fw.ky.gov. It costs $3 per hunter to apply for a specific hunt.
A full listing of the quota hunts and the number of permits available for each can be found on the website. Details, including general and site-specific regulations, are there, too.
Steve Vantreese is a freelance outdoors writer. Email outdoors news items to outdoors@paducahsun.com or phone 270-575-8650.
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