TO CATCH A HUMMINGBIRD
Urbanization is ruining the highways of the sky

2009-09-27T16:18:00.001-07:00

Crouched like a ninja, I await. It's the fastest animal on land, and I am but Man. My predator-prey instinct is on high alert as I suddenly eye this fragile being come into my vision. Pupils dilate. One false step, one sudden movement, and it might escape me. My heart pumps so I take a deep breath. It examines the surroundings for enemies: To the left is a strong fir tree, to the right is his companion keeping a look out, and in front of it lies a source of food, will he risk it? Everything looks normal to him, but he overlooked one detail – beneath the strong fir tree is a human he will soon meet. He glances left at the fir tree one last time, and then goes for the food. And like a ninja's five step combo, each of my actions fall one after another in perfect order, until I have it trapped. As it clings for its life, I cup my hand over the fragile being. It squeals and squirms in my hand. I apply the ancient 'Bander's Grip' that has been passed down to me by my Master Bander. I can crush it if I want to but my firm grip is only to prevent it from escaping again. So I pin it down in a straight-jacket. As I glance over at a dozen others I caught just like it, lying there locked in their straight-jackets, I wonder: “Am I really helping the situation? How did I even get here?”

For starters, I'm not really a ninja. “How was I supposed to know?” you ask. Because ninjas don't publish their feats in newspapers. But with my adrenaline rushing as I trap hummingbirds, the fastest animals on land, it makes me feel like a ninja. It's as close to hunting as I'll get, and I can do it with a guilt free conscience - It's for science! But how is this helping science?

To tell you, I must return to ninja-mode...

The answers lie with the wise Master Bander. There aren't many Master Banders in Vancouver. And Roy Teo is one of the youngest to join the Banders' clan. We're to meet for another capture. His small clan of bander-disciples wake up early before the rise of the red sun. We drape ourselves in layers of clothing to protect us from the elements. I tighten my hoodie like a balaclava. Everyone's asleep, and the parking lot is empty... until 4 AM. Four cars pull in, “We're going to meet the Gate Keeper, Kiyoshi” Teo tells me. The Gate Keeper holds keys to many destinations. Without him, few can cross the path we're about to encounter. From four cars we pack into two and drive off. Where we're going, there are no roads. Dust clouds spin around our back tires while we listen to the pebbles hitting the car's metal – clinking like swords in battle. We arrive. Now we must decipher the Gatekeeper's riddle:

“Are you guys ready?” asks Kiyoshi Takahashi, who holds the key to Widgeon Marsh Park Reserve, a protected area in Coquitlam. Because it's a protected area, many hummingbirds frequent the nectar feeders set up here. We have to trap the hummingbirds, and place identification bands on their legs so that we can monitor their abundance and migratory paths.

How does one even catch the fastest animal on land? Flapping its wings up to 90 times a second, it can reach the speeds of about 60 km/hour. Humans can only reach a bit over half that speed. So, as humans, we resorted to our tool-building abilities and built a net around the feeders. When the hummingbird dips its beak in for the nectar, the net is released and it’s caught. It is then placed in a straightjacket so that it can be measured for data.

Roy Teo, the Bander, is the mind behind this particular project. Roy first became a Bander when he contacted Cam Finlay, who was banding hummingbirds on Vancouver Island as part of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network. “For hummingbirds, I band under Cam's permit as it is his project,” he informs me. “A ‘master’ permit pertains to a unique study/project carried out by an individual, not to the individual him/herself. For example, if I carry out my own swallow project, it would be with a master permit. However, for hummingbirds, I'm a sub-permitee under Cam.”

Urbanization Means Taking Up Sky

When one thinks of urbanization, they think of deforestation, which leads to the removal of wildlife habitat. But what is harder to realize is that forests can also serve as pathways for animals. To put it anthropomorphically, not only does deforestation remove an animal’s ‘home’ but it also removes the highways and restaurant pit-stops that animals depend on when they travel. This is the case with the Rufus hummingbird. It migrates on the longest migratory route for an animal its’ size, from Mexico through Northern B.C, to Alaska, and that route is specific. The hummingbird remembers where such ‘pit-stops’ exist and depends on them. Although hummingbirds are often associated with open meadows, researchers have determined that their migrations go through contiguous tracks of forests along the west coast. Thus, if forests were lost, it would detrimentally affect their migration.

Also important is the fact that it winters in central Mexico, which has faced intense urban development in recent years. In regards to global warming, I guess the challenge is not knowing exactly what it encompasses... warmer and dryer in some areas, while wetter in cooler in others. Having a long migration route/range, it's difficult to predict how it may affect hummingbirds overall. Urbanization may decrease hummingbird abundance, while intense fires in the interior may open up more areas with flowers, thus potentially increasing populations. “Generally, abrupt environmental changes are seldom beneficial to an animal that has evolved over thousands of years under very specific conditions.” Roy tells me.

One thing that has been discovered by the Hummingbird Monitoring Network is that the rufous hummingbird population appears to be in decline. However, more evidence needs to be collected by Roy Teo to support these discoveries and relate them to B.C deforestation or global warming. “To detect these possible changes, we must first establish baseline data, which is the purpose for our monitoring project.”

Vancouver Urbanization Creates a “New” Species

The ninja’s lifestyle is one of combat and survival of the fittest. Just as the ninja’s enemies dissipated in the 16th century Shimbara Rebellion, so did the ninjas. Those who couldn’t adapt to the modern lifestyle had to fend for themselves.

If Vancouver ever needed an example of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest,” we have one. Urbanization doesn’t only change our architectural landscape but also the type of animals that reside in it. While it is the rufous hummingbird that dominated across B.C, Anna’s hummingbird is slowly being introduced to Vancouver. Anna’s hummingbird is originally from Southern California. “It is a relatively new species in BC, arriving [around] the 1940s -1960s - establishing in Victoria, then the North Shore and in the Lower Mainland. In the last couple of years, it's been expanding further east to Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Abbotsford,” says Roy Teo. “Much of its success can probably be attributable to its adaptability to urban environments, such as the presence of ornamental flowers in backyard gardens and artificial feeders.” I ask Roy if it’s possible that global warming itself played a factor in introducing the ‘new’ species, and he thinks it’s possible but cannot confirm it.

Winter Hummingbirds- Return of the White Ninja

Due to the ‘new species’ of Anna’s hummingbirds being introduced to Vancouver, and the amount of Vancouverites who leave their hummingbird feeders out during winter, hummingbirds are appearing here during winter. This may be a beautiful scene or a very sad one for some-as the appearance of winter hummingbirds holds some controversy. “Some people think we're negatively altering the bird's natural behaviour by leaving feeders up year round,” Roy says. Nevertheless, it seems that they are becoming part of the Vancouver landscape and will appear this winter. As for Roy, he still plans to band the new hummingbirds during winter. For he is a Bander whether it rains, snows or shines.

With that, I leave Roy and his Bander disciples. And as I ride off, they vanish in a cloud of smoke thanks to the dirt road that saltates under my Honda Civic. I travel at 60 km/hour, the same speed of the rufous hummingbird. But my highway is shorter, and my home is still in B.C.

Alamir Novin

Editor

octagonhead

TO CATCH A HUMMINGBIRD Urbanization is ruining the highways of the sky

TO CATCH A HUMMINGBIRD
Urbanization is ruining the highways of the sky