The intelligence of humminbirds

A few weeks ago we got our new deck furniture and started sitting outside more. We noticed that a few hummingbirds were flying around. I have owned a hummingbird feeder in the past: a beautiful pottery feeder given to me by my mother-in-law. We never installed it, because until now there was never a spot to hang the feeder which was both visible from the kitchen (where I spend most of my time) and accessible for changing the food. The new deck changed that, and so Michael bought a feeder.

Well, about an hour after Michael installed the feeder, there were a few birds zooming by to investigate. Within the day, the birds were landing and feeding. They were awesome. We could sit in the kitchen nook and watch them through the windows, and even made plans to remove some screens so we could watch them more easily.

Unfortunately, a few days after we installed the feeder, the hummingbirds seemed to have disappeared. Probably they migrated south (maybe to see my grandma). I hope that we didn't accidentally poison them (chances are slim, but not zero...). According to the internet, you can't discourage hummingbird migration by leaving the feeder up: hummingbirds migrate based on the temperature and the sun.

This just goes to show that the hummingbirds really are smart. They got out of town before the hurricane. I hope they come back next year---if they do, we can count on them finding the feeder.

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Why you should study the history of math

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