Hummingbirds!

Suzy from The Casual Birder podcast joins Donna this week to talk about the incredible lives of hummingbirds!

Thanks so much to Suzy for filling in this week! Casual Birder is a podcast about birding that Donna and Paul just love. It’s relaxing, informative and very interesting. Check it out here! Or just click on the image below. Now on with the show!

And now the news!

Always nice to see people being nice to animals. Some Virginia firefighters helped out this little hummer when it found its way into the fire station. Courtesy of WJLA.com:

The fire station was humming with activity that day, amirite?

Hummingbirds have a ton of interesting adaptations. We could have made four hour show about them. Here’s a great Nat Geo documentary about them courtesy of YouTube user Bok lassen:

No other bird files quite like a hummingbird. How do they do it? Read the article here courtesy of thespruce.com

Hummingbirds are the original drone.

How hummers actually drink is way cooler than scientists once thought. Courtesy of The Atlantic:

nom nom nom

Next time someone calls you a “birdbrain” say thanks! Science is finding out that a lot of birds are smarter than you think and hummingbird brains are surprisingly complex! Read about it here courtesy of Audubon.org.

There’s some pop culture surrounding hummingbirds but not a heck of a lot.  What do you think of Suzy’s Tinkerbell hypothesis? Let us know in the Varmints Discussion Group!

Watch the story of two hummers called “Rocky” and “Adrian” as a nice hooman helps them get through the winter. Courtesy of YouTube user blueskeye:

The song used in this video is called “Summers Past” by Brad Sayre and David Simmons. You can find more of their music here.

Hummingbirds really are the jewels of the sky. Courtesy of Audubon.com

Want hummers in your yard? Who doesn’t? They’re awesome! It’s really easy. Here are some tips. Courtesy once again of Audubon.com.

Now you know even more about hummingbirds than you did this morning! What do you think of them? We want to hear from you! Send us your suggestions for animals you’d like to hear us talk about, or just drop us a line about anything at [email protected]! We might even read your email on the show.

Your feedback is always welcome!

Connect with your Varmints! hosts| Paul Csomo | Donna Hume | The Show | Pinterest 

And a very special welcome to the more than 1,200 of you that gave us a like on our Facebook page. Holy cow! Thank you! We hope you like what you hear and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

All music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Featured image “Hummie” was used by permission of the photographer who also happens to be our friend and this week’s co-host, Suzy Buttress. Thanks so much Suzy!

About our voice actors:

Kari McGinnis runs Blazing Caribou Studios and is a co-host on the podcasts Feast On History and Trivia Geeks Live.

Chris Braaten runs the Podfix Network and is a co-host on More Gooder Than.

Chris “Toph” Green is the host of the GravityBeard podcast.

Curtis Craddock is the author of the novel An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors (The Risen Kingdoms, #1)

Josh Hallmark runs the Our Americana network and hosts the podcasts Our Americana, The Karen and Ellen Letters, Playlist and True Crime Bullshit.

Andrea Freitas runs the A Measured Life blog and is a co-host on the Feast On History podcast.

Frosty is the co-host of The Show with The Preshaah and Frosty,

and last but never least, Stacey from Rough Giraffe.