This is an old story (about a year ago) but there are photos of some jerk trying to smuggle hummingbirds in his underwear. Blake Richard Riede was a complete idiot and released several permanently injured birds of prey from their enclosures in Florida. Species released from Boyd Hill Nature Trail Park include red-shouldered hawk, bald eagle and turkey vultures. All but one of the injured birds (a red-shouldered hawk) have been recovered. You can TRY to watch the YouTube video that incriminated him but it's really long. You don't see shenanigans happen until at least 10 minutes in and it's totally worse at 30 minutes in.

Ned Brinkley sent an awesome letter on behalf of the tagged whimbrels who were legally shot in Guadeloupe about the importance of these birds to the rest of the world. Maybe Ned's letter (along with several others) will be step in the right direction to get to set hunting limits during migration. Go Ned and go ABA!

Praying mantis kills another hummingbird. It has happened before.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMHlzAuYnfs[/youtube]

Excellent clip from the Big Year movie--opens October 14!!