Oregon Public Broadcasting

Hold a penny in your hand. That’s about how much a hummingbird weighs.

Every summer, hundreds of the tiny birds gather in a backyard just outside of Walla Walla, Washington. It’s like a truck stop on their migration to Mexico.

It’s a great spot for Ned Batchelder. He’s been trapping and banding the hummers for about eight years.

The bands help scientists track hummingbirds’ migratory patterns. So far Batchelder has banded about 20,000 of the tiny creatures with his wife Gigi. We caught up with him recently. Here’s Ned’s story in his own words.

Ned Batchelder: "You know some people hunt, fish, golf, ski, snowmobile. We band hummingbirds. That’s what we do.

"This is another Black-chinned. This is an adult female. So let me get a band ready here. We have a little toe of a nylon stocking here that we put them in on their back.

"These are feisty, mean birds. They are not gentle little birds. They’re mean birds. If you watch their behavior they’ll drive another right down to the ground. I mean to establish a breeding territory and a food source. This is serious business.

"I’ll load the band inside the pliers here. I will grab a hold of her claws. There’s her little drumstick, like any other bird. When I close these pliers it circles the band around her leg. It doesn’t pinch her leg at all. She’ll wear this for the rest of her life. She will be known as this letter and five digits. If she’s ever recaptured anywhere we will know more about her lifestyle.

"Yeah you look into the eye of these hummingbirds and look at their pupil and various things and sometimes we think we see the center of the universe. You know it’s something that you don’t usually get to do with such a tiny creature. I don’t know the language yet, but they’ve got plenty to tell us. We just have to watch and listen. The more we know about each other then probably the better the world is going to be for all of us.

"And that’s it. We’ve interrupted her life for probably three to five minutes. We’re going to turn her back. And maybe you will hear her wings as she takes off. I am going to open my hand here and she’s ready."

That was Ned Batchelder. He’s a volunteer hummingbird bander from Hamilton, Montana. The story was produced by Richland correspondent Anna King.

Learn more about humming birds:

www.hummingbirdsplus.org

www.hummingbirds.net

trochilds.com