HUMMINGBIRDS are preparing for the inevitable, winter in northern climes that they cannot survive, and trekking toward warmer places where they can find food. These little one-eight ounce miniature packages of feathers and super fast wings have the right stuff to accomplish what Mother Nature intended. They follow food sources to wherever that may lead. And food for hummers is found in deep pocketed flowers of all kinds. Their long beaks poke into a nectar laden flower base to suck sugary juices from within.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) are the most common species to live and breed in the eastern half of North America. These intensely inquisitive birds are attracted to feeders. Males typically display aggressive territoriality to other hummers, other birds, and even to bees, butterflies ore sphinx moths. If a claim is made at a feeder, a male may spend most of the day defending the site from a nearby perch.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds facts: They are about 3.5 inches long and the average weight is one-eight ounce (3.1 grams). Normal body temperature daytime is 105-108 degrees. Wing beats are on average 52 per second but can range from 40-80 per second. The heart rate is pegged at 250 beats per minute resting and 1,200 if actively feeding. Flight speed is 30 mph normally but can be pushed to 50 mph. Dive speeds of 63 mph have been documented by researchers.

Hummingbirds are profiles in courage within the bird world, masters of their niches. And while they do their thing to survive, they delight the eye of naturalists and casual observers alike, who marvel at how this little bird accomplishes such great feats of travel and endurance. Long live the hummers.

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How does an ardent big game hunter become one of the leaders to begin the National Audubon Society? This little review of history will educate you on how it was done. The man was George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938) who in his early years developed a strong interest in the outdoors, wildlife and hunting. His early years of life were influenced by the widow of John James Audubon, the passionate collector of birds. Grinnell made his first trip to the western states in 1870 shortly after graduating from Yale. He accompanied one of his professors during an archaeological expedition. That working vacation was a life changing experience for him.

George used his skills in writing to publish stories in a weekly publication called FOREST and STREAM, the forerunner of all other outdoor magazines. He was a driving force for conservation in his day to enlighten people about Yellowstone National Park, it scenery, wildlife and poaching problems. When it came to telling the story of greed over-running this park, and no enforcement to deal with it, Grinnell kept the pressure on high office holding people in Washington, D.C. to do something constructive and meaningful. Bison’s near extinction was the one species that galvanized the populace about wildlife and the national park.

It is a good thing that events turned out the way they did. Grinnell had made three more trips to the western landscapes in the late 1870s. He collected fossils, met Buffalo Bill Cody and traveled with General George Armstrong Custer into the Black Hills of South Dakota. Later when Custer tried to do his thing against the Indians near Harden, Montana, and lost, George Bird Grinnell was not with Custer that day. For other reasons and obligations Grinnell was not a party to Custer’s Last Stand. And so fate dictated that Grinnell survived to go on to accomplish many other great deeds for conservation.

In 1876, Grinnell was back in New York and began editing a natural history column for the then three year old Field and Stream magazine. He told the stories as they were, all facts and ugliness laid bare for the readers to ponder. If poachers were the problem, he called out their lack of ethics whether hunters or fishermen. He hit a nerve that sparked responses that ultimately lead to the success of other new organizations.

Grinnell met with Theodore Roosevelt in what had began as a confrontational exchange of heated arguments. By the end of the meeting, when both men realized their mutual interest in wildlife and hunting, they came to appreciate each other extensively. Their subsequent meeting were the beginnings of the formation of the Boone and Crockett Club which provided the driving force in early conservation efforts. Together they and other like minded sportsmen achieved improved protection for Yellowstone National Park and its bison.

In addition to bison, Grinnell initiated a focus on birds and bird eggs, calling for their protection from unscrupulous collectors filling women’s hat style demands of that day. In the late 1880s, Grinnell launched the first issue of AUDUBON magazine and the birth of the Audubon Society. Twenty thousand members put their names on subscriptions to this publication.

Glacier National Park in northwest Montana was another milestone for George. He used his writing skills and persuasive powers with congress and the politically connected Boone and Crockett Club members to champion legislation to create Glacier. President Taft signed the bill in 1910 to create this park.

A book titled HOW SPORTSMEN SAVED THE WORLD was written in 2010 by E. Donnell Thomas, also a hunter and sportsman and naturalist. Thomas said “Grinnell convincingly demonstrated the power of a responsible outdoor press in this fight to preserve wildlife and habitat. His key role in the founding of the Audubon Society and the Boone and Crockett Club established important models for the numerous advocacy organizations that would arise in the twentieth century. Finally, he demonstrated that sportsmen could and would not just accept but champion appropriate restrictions on hunting when the common good called for it, like it did in the case of Yellowstone’s wildlife.”

That dear readers is how one person made a difference for long term conservation measures. He had a vision and made it come true through the help of others who shared his visions. A hunter, a conservationist, a naturalist, and a realist, he contributed much to this country’s conservation heritage. Grinnell has been called “the father of American conservation.” He did well indeed. And just like a little hummingbird with unbounded courage, George Bird Grinnell had the courage to see his visions become reality.

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Garry Brandenburg is a graduate of Iowa State University with BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology. He is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. Contact him at P.O. Box 96, Albion, Iowa 50005