I've spent much of my summer sitting on a porch observing nature:  the growing hay-fields, deer, turkey, cottontails, chipping sparrows and hummingbirds.  As I was grasping the bit of internet available here in the rural West to confirm my hummingbird food recipe I noticed a curious link.  I didn't know one could hand feed hummingbirds!  I'm implementing the desensitizing plan and hope to have them eating out of my hand before I have to leave.  What a thrill it is even now to be so very close to them as I sit right next to the feeder on the porch railing.

Black-chinned Hummingbird in the American West

I was preparing for an interview at an urban high school.  I thought, "Wouldn't those students be thrilled to feed hummingbirds by hand?"  In the early spring we could line up a whole row of feeders and work our way to hand feeding.  Then I thought, why not do similar things throughout the year?  We could have an "observation room" where we house the usual classroom pets: snakes, rodents, fish, etc.. But, we could also have periodic installations like butterfly hatchings.  Each student could have a nature journal in which they would make entries.