HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Over a hundred community members spent their Saturday morning at Jeffers Bend Environmental Center for the fourth annual Hummingbird Festival. The festival’s purpose is to inform community members, especially children, on the hummingbird’s effect on the environment.
Hosted by the Pennyrile Resource Conservation and Development Steering Committee and the Christian County Master Gardeners, the festival sheds light on hummingbirds, specifically the Ruby-throated species native to Kentucky, and their migration south for the winter. Hummingbirds were banded during the event by the Southeastern Avian Research committee to track their southern travels, and researcher Cyndi Routledge said the birds are headed all the way for the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico.
Community members had the opportunity to release the hummingbirds after the banding and learn about their impact on the environment. Christian County Master Gardeners also sold local pollinator plants grown by committee members and local youth.
Pennyrile RC&D coordinator Charles Turner said the event is important for the youth because there aren’t as many young people farming and in touch with the environment as much anymore…