Syracuse.com - Liverpool man enthusiastic about his ruby-throated hummingbird haven

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"I am just so fascinated with these amazing and incredible creatures," he said.

Oak Clement's passion these days is ruby- throated hummingbirds - and his backyard shows it.

"I am just so fascinated with these amazing and incredible creatures," he said, leading a personal tour of his feeders, the numerous flowering plants and trees he's planted -- and the 33-foot-long stream and cascading waterfall he has put in to attract the hummingbirds and other birds.

"I've created and enlarged an environment for hummingbirds to know and enjoy and to come back to each year," added Clement, 63, a retired state Department of Taxation and Finance employee.

Clement said sometimes the hummingbirds get within 18 inches to two feet of him while drinking the sugar water from his feeders.Dick Blume | [email protected] 

Clement's work, he said, has been rewarded by the presence in his yard of nine female (hen) hummingbirds, along with one dominant male and two other competing males. The dominant male is constantly chasing the others around the yard. It's all about territory and the food source.

"You should see them spar and chase each other," he said. "It's like watching aerial combat between miniature, dog fighting jets."

Clement noted the male hummingbirds breed with multiple partners. "They're not monogamous like cardinals," he said.

Thirty years ago, when Clement and his wife, Annie, first moved to their Liverpool home, Clement decided to begin landscaping their backyard to make it more attractive to birds.

"It all started with trying to make Annie happy," he said, adding that for years she's had a passion for bird-watching, something that he initially did not share.

About 17 years ago, Clement put up his first hummingbird feeder. He was hooked. Soon after he began reading up on them and began transforming his backyard even more. In recent years he's been on the internet a great deal, attending what he jokingly calls "YouTube U."

"I learned from a YouTube video how to set up my stream and waterfall ," he said, a project that cost him more than $1,400 in supplies, which include a liner, underground tubing, a pump to recirculate the water along with driftwood, rocks and small boulders.

He also learned online about what to plant in his hummingbird haven.

"A hummingbird habitat includes two groups of plantings -- those which are of the flowering annual type and those which are perennial native New York species that provide the hummingbirds with both the nectar they require for energy and insects which they require for protein," he said. " Those groups include salvia, Solomon's seal, touch-me-not, scarlet bee balm, honeysuckle, Asian tinker bells, Virginia blue bells, trumpet vine, trillium, Jack-in- the-pulpit, Dames rocket,bleeding heart and climbing hydrangea."

Additionally, a hummingbird habitat should be half open grassland and half deciduous forest. When he first moved in, his yard had black cherry, white ash and white oak trees. He also planted pin oak and locust trees. "The whole thingcontained bloack cherry, white ash, white oak.. Pin oak.. black cherry and white ash. Planted pin oak, locusts. .. whole thing engineered to attraCK WILDLIFEprimarily birds..

"The whole thing is engineered to attract wildlife, primarily birds," he said. "Hummingbirds love the open grass to fly and spar, but also like sitting up on the edge of a forest to survey their territory.".

He explained humming birds need nectar from plants for quick energy, but also need to eat nearly half their weight each day in insects to get the protein they need.

Finally, there's the running water. "This feature includes bird bathing areas that are both still pools and areas that are flowing water," he said.

After all this, Clement has just two hummingbird feeders, which he takes great pains to keep clean. He fills them with sterilized (boiled) sugar water. "One 1/4 cup sugar, one cup water," is the formula, he said.

Clement's and wife's favorite spost to watch all the are at their kitchen table overlooking the backyard, or on two-person, gliding rocker outside near the two regular bird feeders on poles

In addition to the hummingbirds, numerous other birds are constantly dropping in to take advantage of two bird feeders, along with taking a dip in, or drinking from the man-made stream. Clement provided a written list of 35 different species he and his wife have observed.

The hummers, though, are his favorites.

"Hummingbirds will acclimate to humans. I can sit on my back steps and they'll come with 18 inches to two feet from my head," he said.

MORE ON RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS

Although more than 300 species of hummingbirds exist, the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only that found east of the Mississippi River in the eastern part of North America.

These birds flap their wings 53 times a second.

The birds are bright emerald or golden-green on the back and crown, with gray-white underparts. Males have a brilliant iridescent red throat.

They fly straight and fast but can stop instantly, hover, and adjust their position up, down, or backwards with exquisite control.

They arrive each year in early or mid-May, and by early September they're bound for Central America, with many crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight.

The extremely short legs of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. Nevertheless, it scratches its head and neck by raising its foot up and over its wing.

For more, see the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website at allaboutbirds.org.

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View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog