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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | SEPTEMBER 2023 43 Birding CLUB If you were lucky enough to travel to Europe, Asia, or Africa this summer, there is one thing you will not have seen that you can see right here at Four Seasons: a Hummingbird! Hummingbirds are tiny and beautiful birds found only in the Americas, and we have several of the more than 350 species here in our gardens and on our trails. In fact, you may have been buzzed on your patio by a persistent hummer as he or she went about a relentless search for food in your yard. Hummingbirds do not really hum. They are named for the sound they make as they flap their wings up to 70 beats per second, and you can also hear the chatter they make with their tail feathers. They hover at flowers and feeders that provide them with the nectar they need to survive. With their constant activity and high metabolism, they consume more than two times their body weight in glucose and insects, and may visit 1,000 blossoms every day. They remember their favorite flowers and feeders and return regularly, even from one year to the next. They are also ferocious defenders of their territory, and will attack other Hummingbirds and even larger birds and animals to protect their favorite food source. In fact, the Aztecs believed that they were reincarnations of ancient warriors. Hummingbirds are remarkable for their colorful plumage. The males use their beautiful colors to attract a mate. The colors also help us to identify which species of Hummingbird we are looking at, but it is often difficult to see the feathers unless they catch the light. Here at Four Seasons, we have recorded several of the 14 species found in California, including the mostly green and gray Anna's, the purple and green Costa's, the orange and red Rufous, and the coppery orange and green Allen's. If you want to learn more about Hummingbirds and the other birds who live near us, come join us on our bird club walks. For more information, please contact Gerrie Karczynski at gerrie201516@ gmail.com. ~ Kathy Hull Community Garden Club Our next speaker is on Sept. 23. Friday, Oct. 20 will be our annual outside dinner party with live music. For information or suggestions for future topics, please contact pwayne1@outlook.com. ~ Pat Wayne Our Book Club selection for Sept. 12 is Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: e Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli. Here is a brief description from Amazon.com: "In the years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women in the workplace still found themselves relegated to secretarial positions or locked out of jobs entirely. This was especially true in the news business, a backwater of male chauvinism where a woman might be lucky to get a foothold on the 'women's pages.' But when a pioneering nonprofit called National Public Radio (NPR) came along in the 1970s, and the door to serious journalism opened a crack, four remarkable women came along and blew it off the hinges. "Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie is journalist Lisa Napoli's captivating account of these four women, their deep and enduring friendships, and the trail they blazed to becoming icons. They had radically different stories. Cokie Roberts was born into a political dynasty, roamed the halls of Congress as a child, and felt a tug toward public service. Susan Stamberg, who had lived in India with her husband who worked for the State Department, was the first woman to anchor a nightly news program and press for accommodations to balance work and home life. Linda Wertheimer, the daughter of shopkeepers in New Mexico, fought her way to a scholarship and an on-air spot. And Nina Totenberg, the network's legal affairs correspondent, invented a new way to cover the Supreme Court. Based on extensive interviews and calling on the author's deep connections in news and public radio, Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie will be as beguiling and sharp as its formidable subjects." Our meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 9:30 am in the RCN Room #3, and someone volunteers to lead the discussion about the book we have chosen for the month. For more information about the Four Seasons Book Club or to get on our mailing list, please contact me at michelesrosen@gmail.com. ~ Micki Rosen Book Club Top le: Allen's Hummingbird at Four Seasons, picture by Gerrie Karczynski Above: Mother and baby hummingbird at Four Seasons, picture by Linda Miller At le: Anna's Hummingbird at Four Seasons, picture by Gerrie Karczynski

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