General Notes

by Nita Holstine

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  I wanted to have a Wild Bird page to give me a place to log the resident and migrating birds of our area. The Audubon Society wanted a big yearly fee and when you read the fine print, the also required that you give all your photography to them for free. Yeah, sure. No thanks. They have a beautiful printed magazine but they only use member's photos. 

  I am quoting from the bottle of hummingbird nectar; a brand called Natural Springs Nectar®, Natural Springs Division, Penn Pak, Madison, GA  30650. "John James Audubon stated, 'I have seen many of these birds kept in partial confinement. When they were supplied with artificial flowers made to hold honey or sugar dissolved with water for them. They seldom lived many months.' " Of course, we know now days that honey will kill them just like artificial sweetener. But this statement mentions partial confinement and this suggests that when you need to add all those vitamins and minerals, it is because you are keeping the little birds in captivity. In the wild, they don't need the added vitamins and minerals. The bottle of nectar was never used but it was noted that it contained only water (besides those minerals and vitamins or at least they said so) but no sugar!  The jug was a bright red and implied that the liquid was also red in color but was actually clear. The jug was not sealed and by the time I actually opened the jug to look at the contents, it was spoiled and smelled terrible. Read all that tiny print on the labels.