1. Slide #1 – This presentation is about Audubon’s new Hummingbirds at Home program

2. Slide #2 – We all love Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds visit our yards every year, looking for nectar from our gardens and feeders. These are fascinating birds to watch, from their quick hovering style of flight, to their showy colors.
Hummingbirds have a very high metabolic rate, and specialize in eating nectar – they depend on this sugar-rich food source for up to 90 percent of their diet. The rest is made up of insects and pollen that provide essential protein. Many of us wonder at the remarkable journeys these tiny birds take each year – and the importance of appropriate food to fuel the journey from plant and food sources.
Magnificent Hummingbird © Ashok Khosla used with permission

3. Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird © Ashok
Khosla, used with permission
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus)
Breeding distribution Start of Growing Season
Slide #3: Recent science findings about hummingbirds
In May a Broad-tailed Hummingbird leaves it’s wintering ground on the south facing slopes of Sierra de Guadalupe, Mexico, near Mexico City. Traveling nearly 1500 miles north, this hearty tiny bird heads for it’s breeding area in the United States. By mid-May the bird lands in a mountain meadow near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, searching for it’s favorite food, the nectar of the Crimson Columbine. However, the peak first flowering of this plant had occurred 14 days earlier and the red trumpet-shaped blossoms are now faded and wilting, sloughing off the first flowers of the season. This Broad-tailed Hummingbird will now have to spend more energy searching for an alternate food source — on the heels of expending so much energy during its migration.
Recent science reports that flowers are blooming earlier and earlier due to climate change. Some flowers are blooming as many as 17 days before the migrating hummingbirds arrive. The impact of this for migrating and breeding hummingbirds is unknown.

4. Slide #4 - Hummingbirds at Home program overview: the Science framework
Building on the legacy of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and the more recent success of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), Audubon is launching a new program called Hummingbirds at Home.
Through this new program Audubon’s goal is to gather data that will help document and better understand how the flowering patterns of hummingbird food sources are changing and how these changes and use of hummingbird feeders affect hummingbird survival and reproductive success. Since nectar is critical to hummingbirds, we’re asking people to document what flowering plants the hummingbirds are feeding on in their backyards, as well as if they provide a hummingbird feeder. The Hummingbirds at Home program will provide an opportunity for citizen scientists to help us learn how these changes in their environment are impacting hummingbirds and to contribute to improvements to benefit hummingbirds.
Calliope Hummingbirds © Dan Tracy used with permission

5. Slide #5: Hummingbirds at Home is part of Audubon’s national citizen science programs
As part of Audubon’s national citizen science programs, Hummingbirds at Home is a new opportunity to get out in the spring and watch hummingbirds as they return to their breeding grounds and fuel up on their favorite nectar sources.
Access to the Hummingbirds at Home program website is available through Audubon’s citizen science portal at Those interested in citizen science can also submit their address to sign up to receive articles and summaries about each of the national citizen science programs, and to hear about upcoming programs.

6. Learn Download Mobile app Register
Slide #6 Hummingbirds at Home program website
Through the Hummingbirds at Home website you can use your desktop or laptop PC or Mac computer to participate. The first step is to watch the video that explains how to get started and how to participate. Then register for the program and log in to begin entering observations about hummingbirds. If you prefer to use your smartphone to participate, you can download the mobile app, for Iphone and Android mobile phones, from this website.
This program is different than our other citizen science programs in a few ways. The Hummingbirds At Home program focuses on recording feeding behavior of hummingbirds and their interactions with flowering plants and feeders, rather than counting birds at a location.
The goal of Hummingbirds at Home is to provide data that lead to recommendations for what people can do to help hummingbirds by planting things in their yards and proving important food sources in the areas hummingbirds visit.
Register

7. Hummingbirds at Home gives you an option to participate using your smartphone
Slide #7 –Mobile version
If you choose to use your smartphone to participate in the Hummingbirds at Home program, you will be able to do your survey in real-time while you are watching the hummingbirds. No matter where you are, when you see a hummingbird, you can record the observation including which plant the bird is feeding on, in real-time.
Better still, you will be able to survey an area you define as your “patch”, such as your yard or favorite park, and record the hummingbirds, flowering plants and feeding interactions as they happen. These patch surveys are a very important part of the program, as repeated surveys at the same location will give scientists a more detailed picture of how the hummingbirds are doing.
You can choose how often to participate, whether it is once only, once per week, or many days in succession – you choose what works for you.
If you decide to use the mobile version of the app to enter your data, you can still go back to a desktop computer and also enter data there.

8. Two ways to record: Patch Survey Single Sighting
Slide #8: More details: What will you be recording
There are two options for recording hummingbirds in this program, the patch survey or a single sighting. The patch survey is for participating at a location more than once — or frequently.
The single sighting is for recording a hummingbird or flowering plant you see while you are anywhere outside of patch surveys.
To learn more about these options take advantage of viewing the video provided on the opening screen titled “Not Sure?”.

9. Patch Survey Slide #9 – Patch Surveys
If you choose to survey an area frequently you can create your “patch”, indicating the location and general size of the “patch”. The “patch” survey is a real-time survey recording your survey time as you make your observations.
Start recording the hummingbirds in your patch by picking each of the species of hummingbirds seen in your patch off of a list. You will also be recording any flowering plants you can identify. Images of the plants are provided for your location to give you help. If you cannot identify a plant or the species of hummingbird, don’t worry, there are options to record “unidentified” hummingbirds or plants.
Of course we also want to know if there is a hummingbird feeder in the patch you are surveying. We want to know if the hummingbirds you observe feed at the feeder and/or feed on any of the flowering plants.

10. Can I record hummingbirds I see in other places?
Yes! Use the incidental sighting option.
Slide #10: The Single Sighting
If you don’t want to record a patch survey, you can record a single sighting of a hummingbird and/or flowering plant that you see anywhere. It will be simple to select the species of hummingbird or plant off or a list and then submit your data. For a single sighting, you will be asked to indicate where you are when you see the hummingbird.
If you want to record a single sighting later, you can also enter it by logging into the desktop version on the program website.
Once you are done entering your data of either type, you can submit the data and it will upload to the main database and appear in an online map.
The Hummingbirds at Home website will display real-time hummingbird observations, submitted by participants, on a map.

11. Slide #11: Resources
The Hummingbirds at Home website will contain links to the Hummingbird pages of Audubon’s online guide to birds to help you with your hummingbird ID skills. Printable general birding tips and other resources are also provided by a link on the website.

12. Go to www.audubon.org/citizenscience to sign-up.
Slide #12
Please join this new opportunity to make a difference for hummingbirds by signing up to participate in the Hummingbirds at Home program. Together, we a have a lot of opportunity to explore the world of hummingbirds, learn how the world is impacting them, and to harness the wingspan of Audubon to improve their habitat.
Go to to sign-up.
Note to chapters and presenters (not part of the script): All bird images are used with permission here and cannot be used for any purpose beyond showing of this presentation unless permission is obtained directly from the photographers. Contact for information.
Rufous Hummingbird © Glen Tepke, used with permission