Test pic - nesting hummingbird

[haigha]

A test.

[motordavid]

Titz Pic, Phil!

We have them all around our Mtn joint in summer, but try as I might,
I've never discovered a nest. Great pic!
Late to the viewing, lol!
BR,mD

[haigha]

Originally Posted by motordavid

Titz Pic, Phil!
We have them all around our Mtn joint in summer, but try as I might,
I've never discovered a nest. Great pic!

BR,mD

The picture was taken from inside the home office last summer. I've seen some nests on ground here which is how I first figured out what to look for.

I was testing out picture posting before posting the parrot pics.

BTW, I read an alarming article in the New Yorker (Dec. 10 issue) about the devastation to the ash and hemlocks in the Carolinas. It concentrated on the hemlocks which are getting killed by the woolly adelgid parasite from Asia. Have you seen this in your neck of the woods in NC?

[motordavid]

P,
Yes...the wooly adelgid is decimating the hemlocks in western NC. Huge stands of them are dying/dead along the BlueRidgeParkway and in Smoky Mtn Nat'l Park. On our Mtn, many of us homeowners are paying $1500-$2 Gs a year for root injection, spraying, drip pesticide, etc. We have about 15 very old, decent sized ones and a few may not make it, regardless of our efforts.

The real "bio changer" is that the banks of many of the rivers, streams and creeks are the natural home of these beautiful trees; as they die the stream bank and water ways environment is changed considerably due to increased sunlight, less cover, etc.

A good neighbor of ours has an empty lot at our corner: 3+ acres with stream, for sale for a few years: he just had a dozen jumbo hemlocks taken down last late fall, as they were bare/dead or dying. We looked at the stumps and these sumbitches were close to 200 years old! And, that nicely wooded lot now looks like a meteor came through...

What a loss...the Bio guys have a bug that feeds on the wooly adelgid, but getting it "to" the infected tree is not real practical...it's a fookin mess and a shame, but we may lose most of ours at our joint and, in the area.
BR,mD

[haigha]

Originally Posted by motordavid

P,
Yes...the wooly adelgid is decimating the hemlocks in western NC. Huge stands of them are dying/dead along the BlueRidgeParkway and in Smoky Mtn Nat'l Park. On our Mtn, many of us homeowners are paying $1500-$2 Gs a year for root injection, spraying, drip pesticide, etc. We have about 15 very old, decent sized ones and a few may not make it, regardless of our efforts.
...
What a loss...the Bio guys have a bug that feeds on the wooly adelgid, but getting it "to" the infected tree is not real practical...it's a fookin mess and a shame, but we may lose most of ours at our joint and, in the area.
BR,mD

It is a real shame and hits home more that I know someone directly affected by it Even the adelgid population loses out since there is no balance in this fight. I hope that you can keep most of your hemlocks healthy. The insect option was mentioned in the article but didn't seem pracitical based on what the author learned. Good luck