Hello friends and fellow birders. Welcome to 2010! I am excited about the new year and the possibilities it holds.

As you may have read in the Tehachapi News, we had two very successful Christmas Bird Counts on both the Tehachapi and the Bear Valley counts. We'd still like to increase local participation, but our small band of dedicated birders (many from out of our area) did a thorough job of censusing birds in this region and our data continues to accumulate with every passing year, yielding a clearer and clearer picture of avifauna in the Tehachapi area.

We have an interesting year planned with a number of great guest speakers slated to address the club at the BeeKay Theater in downtown Tehachapi. Remember, we had to change our monthly meeting date to the fourth Monday of every month in order to be able to continue to use the BeeKay. This may take some getting used to, but the advantages of meeting at this beautiful facility in the heart of Tehachapi seem to outweigh the disadvantages of changing our meeting date.

The month's speaker is Tom Kaminski, an exceptional videographer who has taken some of the most amazing footage of hummingbirds ever captured. Tom has been our guest speaker in the past and he is knowledgeable, intelligent authority on hummingbirds and a good friend to our club. Please plan on attending on Monday, January 25 at 7 p.m. to see this remarkable program.

We have many winter migrants enjoying Tehachapi at this time, with a marked increase in our raptor and waterfowl populations, so don't miss the opportunity to see bird species that are either scarce or absent the rest of the year.

If you have any suggestions for the club, whether it be for activities, guest speakers, field trips or anything else don't hesitate to call, write or e-mail. Enjoy being outdoors in Tehachapi, and don't let cold weather dissuade from venturing outside — there is still much to see!

"Hummingbirds! Beauty and the Beast" depicts these and many other aspects of their lives in colorful footage of 64 species that occur in North, Central and South America. Much of their frenetic activity is shown in slow motion.

All 16 U.S. species are shown, together with 15 other bird species ranging from Fiji and the Galapagos Archipelago to the Americas.

"Many hummingbird fans think hummers are so sweet," DVD producer Tom Kaminski said. "But beneath their flashy colors and aerial antics lurk little beasts that live by the law of the jungle. Few birds are as self-centered and anti-social."

"While the female and her maturing brood are charming to watch," he added, "all will be fighting over territory once the fledglings become self-sufficient."

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view larger image.)

The new DVD shows an Allen's Hummingbird building her nest and raising her brood while the male is nowhere to be seen. It also shows hummingbirds' "rules of engagement" and attacks on one-another, as well as their non-avian competitors, feeding preferences, how they hover like no other bird, and other subjects.

"They can fly faster than the Peregrine Falcon, in terms of body lengths per second," Kaminski noted. "Their heart rate can rise to 1,260 beats per minute, higher than that of any other vertebrate, yet they can live more than 12 years.

"If our metabolic rate were comparable to theirs," he added, "we'd have to consume the caloric equivalent of more than 2,900 Oreo cookies daily just to keep up. The list goes on, as 'Hummingbirds! Beauty and the Beast' makes abundantly clear."

Visit Tom Kaminski's website Avian Video Center.