'Islanders love their hummingbirds': Tiny birds banded on P.E.I.

Cindy Cartwright, lead researcherforHummingbirds Canada, is on P.E.I. this week from Ontario to band ruby-throated hummingbirds, the third summer in a row that she's visited the Island.

Cartwright is excited by the number of hummingbirds she sees on P.E.I., in greater numbers than what she observes back home in Ontario.

• Tiny hummingbirds banded in P.E.I. project

"I think there are more hummingbirds here, I'm going to be doing some research this fall looking into reasons but there are not sites in Ontario where we can go and see so many hummingbirds," she said.

Hummingbirds 'hot spots'

"When I talk to people, their faces light up and there are so many people with feeders, I think the Islanders love their hummingbirds."

Cartwright has banded more than 200 hummingbirds over her three trips to P.E.I. She is part of a network of banders that share their numbers with a Canadian office.

Cartwright reports she is finding some hummingbird "hot spots" on P.E.I.

"We found some spots where there are 40 or 50 hummingbirds coming to feeders and we've also had a lot of hummingbirds from 2015 returning, we recaptured them last year and again this year," said Cartwright.

Volunteers wanted

Cartwright and the team at Island Nature Trust would like to find even more properties where hummingbirds are hanging out.

"We are trying to recruit more land owners who are willing to have birds banded," said Megan Harris, executive director of Island Nature Trust.

"Right now we have a cluster of land owners who are participating in the program in the central part of the province, we'd really like to have a cluster in the other two counties as well."

Harris is also hoping to train some banders here on Prince Edward Island because Cartwright's time is limited she generally only has one week each summer to come band the birds.

"I was asked yesterday how many I think could be banded in a year here and if there were more banders or I could stay longer each year I think it would be pretty easy to band 500 hummingbirds a year on Prince Edward Island," said Cartwright.

Bird watchers

Cartwright and Island Nature Trust are also teaming up to do more research on the hummingbird population on P.E.I.

Island Nature Trust is handing out refrigerator charts for monitoring what people are observing at their hummingbird feeders, along with a list of native P.E.I. plants that are attractive to hummingbirds.

"We need public participation, we're looking for people to let us know when the hummingbirds arrive in the spring, when they leave in the fall," said Cartwright.