Tiny hummingbirds banded in P.E.I. project

Cindy Cartwright has been spending the last few days trying to reach her goal of putting 100 tiny bands on 100 hummingbirds.

It's the first time hummingbirds have been banded on P.E.I. says Cartwright, founder of Hummingbirds Canada, who has come to P.E.I. from Ontario for the project.

"Oh it was really exciting. It's very exciting every time you get a chance to handle one of these tiny birds. They're just such miraculous little creatures. But to know that it's the first one that's been done in a province or a location is extra special."

Hummingbirds Canada wants to track the tiny birds. Each tiny band has a unique code. Once a hummingbird is banded, the information is sent to the Canadian banding office to be shared throughout North America. When somebody finds the hummingbird, they can report the band and it leads back to where it was banded.

"We have sent man to the moon. We've put rovers on Mars and banding is still the absolute best way to identify an individual bird and learn about what they're doing," said Cartwright.

"It's magnificent. It's so incredible to hold such a tiny bird very delicately, put the band on them and know that you're contributing something useful to them. We're trying to understand their lives."

A hummingbird weighs about three grams and migrates up to 8,000 kilometres each year.

Cartwright says the tiny birds can let people know what is going on in the environment.

"Hummingbirds are indicator species of what's happening in the environment because they have nectar for their carbohydrates and protein, the insects they eat is their protein and mineral source so what's happening to them at the smaller level affects us as humans. They're also pollinators so some of our food crops are pollinated by hummingbirds," said Cartwright.

The City of Charlottetown is helping attract hummingbirds. A new garden has been planted at Victoria Park with plants that attract hummingbirds says Hummingbird Habitat Enhancement Project coordinator Brenda Penak

"We wanted to enhance the municipal park system for hummingbird habitat. So that was the first part of the project. The second part of the project is an outreach portion and that would basically be an educational type of project where we would bring in a guest speaker."