Oakland man wonders if hummingbirds ever crash into humans
Bird and butterfly encounters and a mourning dove question -- and thoughts on horse racing from a young animal lover.
DEAR JOAN: A few days ago, while watering my garden in the early evening, I looked up to see a hummingbird silently hovering about a foot in front of my face. A moment later, it darted away.
A bit of a silly question perhaps, but do hummingbirds ever run into humans? Variation on the same question with butterflies — they seem to fly in very irregular, haphazard patterns.
— Fred Korr, Oakland
DEAR FRED: There are no silly questions; just ones I can’t answer. Fortunately this isn’t one of those.
Hummingbirds have had run-ins with humans and inanimate objects, but these are extremely rare. Hummers have exceptional flying skills, allowing them to quickly change direction, stop in midair and even reverse their paths. They are more likely to slam into a building or window, trying to evade a predator or mistaking a reflection for open space.
Butterflies fly much slower. There might be more encounters with humans than we realize because butterflies are so light we don’t always feel them alight on us, but most interactions are deliberate.
The reason butterflies fly so erratically is a survival instinct. Flitting and flickering through the air makes it more difficult for predators to grab them.
DEAR JOAN: I think people should avoid horse racing for three clear reasons.
The first is because of horse deaths. Some horses are abused by people (who) feed the horses too many drugs, like caffeine, to run more. This sometimes causes horse deaths.
The second reason is because going to horse racing is not important. There are a huge amount of other fun activities to do other than watching horse racing. You can go to the movies, go bowling and plenty more.
The third reason is because the horses don’t actually care if they win or not. Multiple people say horses like to run and win. Well, horses do like to run, but … it is the people who want to win.
Because there are many horse deaths, you should definitely avoid horse racing; it’s not even important, and horses don’t care about winning. You should do something other than horse racing.
— James Q., sixth grade, Pleasanton
DEAR JAMES: Thanks for responding to a recent letter in my column from a woman questioning whether she and her friends should carry on with an annual get-together involving a trip to the race track.
I can tell you’ve given this a lot of thought and feel passionate about it. I encourage you to continue your advocacy for animals. This is how things change, and we need people like you to help make life better for our animal friends.
DEAR JOAN: I haven’t seen one dove anywhere this year. Last year a nest on my patio welcomed three sets of twins. Nothing this year. What’s up?
— Andy, San Jose
DEAR ANDY: Mourning doves often return to areas where they’ve successfully nested before, but they don’t have an instinct that draws them back. They might have just found some place else to nest. You can encourage them to nest in your yard by putting out nesting platforms or baskets and providing some ground bird feeders.
Animal Life runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.