Hello, and Happy Hump Day. Hope folks here can help me with this. Two nights ago, KARE11, in their 10pm news, reported about a new surge of mosquitos carrying West Nile. Also in the segment was a report about increased hornets and wasps causing problems. I was shocked when they urged viewers to bring in their hummingbird and oriole feeders immediately for the season. What is the general consensus opinion of you folks on the list serve over that advice? This is the time (migration preparation) when they need those feeders the most, isn’t it? 2 years ago I had the Rufus Hummingbird visit my feeder for the first time in mid-September along with Rubythroats. They all seemed to survive the pesky hornets at the feeders. One thing I did that seemed to help was regularly applying pure peppermint oil around the *outside* surfaces of the feeder. Hornets and wasps seemed to be repelled but hummers didn’t seem to mind. Has anyone else tried this? And are there any concerns about this practice? IMHO, I think KARE11 was irresponsible in telling people to stop feeding hummers. Thank you so much for all you folks are doing, despite wildfires and a raging pandemic, Kathryn Rudd, Eagan 😷 🦢
Sent from my iPad. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
