Henderson, Minnesota group drafts vision for a center dedicated to ruby-throated hummingbird

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: I'm excited for this next conversation. Minnesota is part of North America's most traveled bird migration route, known as the Mississippi Flyway. We host an incredible number and diversity of birds. A group in Henderson, Minnesota is working to celebrate one species, a delightful little visitor that weighs less than a quarter ounce. Beth Cornish is treasurer of Henderson Feathers, an organization that's working to create a national ruby-throated hummingbird center. And Beth is on the line. Welcome to the program.

BETH CORNISH: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: I love hummingbirds. I just think they're such a fascinating little species. Why are they so important to Henderson, Minnesota?

BETH CORNISH: They tend to nest right around the Minnesota River right outside of-- right on the edge of Henderson, and we've developed a garden to celebrate them and give them a place to hang out and eat all summer. So we have birds coming through both going south and north every year. We have a one-day event every summer all about hummingbirds.

We do education, and we have a gentleman named Donald Mitchell, who is a master gardener and a licensed hummingbird bander who traps and-- traps, bands, records information, and releases hummingbirds that day. And he was very excited a couple of years ago to catch a couple of birds that he had actually banded in our garden two years previous.

CATHY WURZER: Oh my goodness. And do you get a lot-- I mean, you must get enough birds to actually have a pretty decent celebration. Do you get hundreds or something?

BETH CORNISH: Well there's generally at least dozens, if not hundreds. They don't necessarily come out where people can see them that day, but they're there. And the garden is open every day all year round, and people come from all over the state to take pictures of the flowers and the birds.

CATHY WURZER: What do you like about hummingbirds?

BETH CORNISH: They're just a joy to be around. They're so beautiful and they have such an indomitable spirit when you think about how far they go back and forth to live their lives. It's just impressive. It's inspirational to me.

CATHY WURZER: I know that there's the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota, of course, the National Eagle Center in Wabasha-- are you taking a page out of their book when it comes to a hummingbird center?

BETH CORNISH: Exactly. We thought that since we kind of already have a destination with having the only hummingbird-themed event in Minnesota, that we would take that one step further and put together a center that actually celebrates them.

CATHY WURZER: Do you have any money to start the planning process?

BETH CORNISH: We got a grant from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation to help us with the strategic planning process, which is starting tomorrow night. We're going to have two meetings a month for four months, at the end of which we hope to have enough to write our strategic plan.

CATHY WURZER: Good, OK. So once this is up and running, what kind of programming do you imagine having there.

BETH CORNISH: Well, we hope to obviously have garden tours, teach things about-- people about what things to plant to draw hummingbirds and other pollinators to their area. We'll have videos and educational information about hummingbirds-- about what they do for us, about what they need, and how we can help them.

CATHY WURZER: You mentioned the hummingbird garden, will you expand that garden, get maybe some new trails, that kind of thing?

BETH CORNISH: Well, we're lucky enough to have happening right now is there is a new regional trail that's going to be built along the Scenic Byway that comes into Henderson from the north. And the segment coming into town is going to be called the Hummingbird Trail, and the trailhead in Henderson will be right next to our garden. So we intend to hopefully draw visitors in and make this sort of a whole destination.

CATHY WURZER: That garden, can you explain it? Can you kind of paint a picture? I'm assuming you have all the great flowers that hummingbirds really love.

BETH CORNISH: We do, yes. We change the design up a little bit every year. We have a lot of perennials, that are things that they like, and then we always put in annuals so that we have the longest possible season to have things available for them because, obviously, perennials don't really start flowering until June or later.

But we've got everything from giant hardy Minnesota hibiscus, which the blooms are the size of a dinner plate down to little tiny clematis crawling all over the place. So we've got a pergola, we've got little paths, and different gardens. And next year we're going to try to set the gardens so that each one-- like one's a butterfly garden and one's a bee garden and one's other--

CATHY WURZER: That sounds delightful. I was reading in the Mankato Free Press that this year's your Hummingbird Hurrah was obviously really hot this year, and many of the little hummers were hiding in the shade. I'm wondering, what do you know, what does your group know about how possibly climate change is affecting the little birds?

BETH CORNISH: I can't speak with authority, but my guess would be that their food system-- their food supply on their migratory routes is affected and their migration signals. Because when it's really hot, they're going to think they need to stay around here longer then they should be heading south sooner.

CATHY WURZER: And they can get stuck in that respect?

BETH CORNISH: Yes, exactly. That's my uneducated guess anyway.

CATHY WURZER: Understood. Understood. So if all goes well for you all in Henderson, Minnesota, when might this center be open?

BETH CORNISH: We intend to have something open in April. It probably will not be the way it's eventually going to be. We have a small space that one of the existing groups in town is going to let us use. We have-- there's a Joseph R. Brown Minnesota River Center, which is associated with our community building, and they're going to let us use part of their space to be able to have information and videos and things while we get something more solidified.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. OK, so there's a lot of work to do. It sounds like it's already a big deal in Henderson with the Henderson Hurrah, and it sounds like you already have some pretty decent crowds that come down for that.

BETH CORNISH: We usually have about 400 people, if not more.

CATHY WURZER: And that will obviously increase when you get the center I bet. Well, I wish you all well. I wish you well.

BETH CORNISH: Thank you so mush.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you so much. Yeah, and your meeting us tomorrow. Absolutely. The meeting is tomorrow--

BETH CORNISH: We're meeting at 7:00 o'clock tomorrow night at the community building in Henderson, which is 600 Main Street. That's the first meeting, then we'll have them like every two weeks.

CATHY WURZER: All right.

BETH CORNISH: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Beth, we'll have to check back with you to see how things are going. Thank you so much.

BETH CORNISH: Sounds awesome. Thank you. Bye-bye.

CATHY WURZER: Beth Cornish is treasurer of Henderson Feathers. That's an organization working to open a national ruby-throated hummingbird center in Henderson, Minnesota. As I say kind of similar to the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota, which is kind of cool, and of course, the National Eagle Center, which is in Wabasha, Minnesota.