I noticed a Ruby-throated hummingbird, Archilocus colubris, wobbling about in my Bradford pear tree the other day and decided that it was time to redo my feeder water. It seems that if the sugar water stays long enough, it ferments into alcohol and can make the Hummingbirds drunk.

Because this can be fatal to the birds, it was time for a change.

I've always enjoyed Hummingbirds and remember the first feeder I put up. The day after I put it up outside my bedroom window, I told my wife that it was too close to the house and I should start it out in the yard and then move it closer daily until it was next to the window.

She just smiled and pointed out that there already was a hummer feeding at it.

Years later, I was doing high speed video experiments for customer machinery problems. To make sure I was proficient at the expensive (but rented) equipment, I would practice at it in the backyard. When I filmed Hummingbirds, I found a whole new world of avian performance.

Hummingbirds fly with vectored thrust. This is new to the fighter plane world and is essentially the propulsion by an air jet that blows in controlled directions. Although familiar in the Harrier Jump Jet it has just been introduced on the near production Lightning II fighter.

On a hummingbird, vectored thrust works much like a helicopter in that it can hover in midair. However, in the high speed video, you can also see that if the Hummer wants to go down really fast, it will rotate upside down and vector to the ground.

It's too fast to see it with the naked eye!

Recently, Bill Hilton at the Hilton Pond gave a brief review of hummer myths. My favorite is the story that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds climb onto the back of Canada Geese for a free ride in migration. He then pointed out that not only was this ridiculous, but that the birds didn't even start and stop in the same country.

Ah, but he did goof on us all by superimposing a goose image on top of a hummer and jokingly said geese can ride on the backs of a hummingbird.

What fun.

We all know the truth that hummingbirds really migrate by renting Penske trucks and sharing the fuel costs on their way to Costa Rica.

But before I leave you hanging with my drunken hummingbird, let me make a recommendation: I use a four-to-one mixture of water and sugar and try to change it every week.

More often is better, but I seem so busy that it is difficult.

I don't put fake dye in the water as that doesn't help the bird at all; It just looks like it should. Plus, I am old enough to remember the problems with Red Dye No. 7.

The other thing is, I've tried exotic and beautiful feeders and have always been disappointed. The best one is called Best One and is available at good birding stores.

Dr. Peter Tkacik is an avid naturalist in the Fort Mill area. He can be reached at ptkacik@uncc.edu.