(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Hummingbirds will be celebrated Saturday afternoon at a south suburban nature center.
The annual Hummingbird Fest runs from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at Will County's Plum Creek Nature Center in Beecher.
Bob Bryerton, a program manager at the nature center, said one popular feature is the banding of hummingbirds that show up. The birds have bands put on their legs so that, when they're re-captured in the future, scientists will know how old they are, and where they've been.
Bryerton said catching the quick little birds is no easy feat.
"We have two types of traps that we use. One is a remote control trap where you actually push the button and the door closes," he explained.
"They're so fast that we can't try to close the door unless they actually land on the feeder, because if they're still in flight when we try to hit the button, they can actually get out the door before the door closes."
Bryerton said staff members put a hummingbird they caught "in a little drawstring bag to kind of keep him calm and then we're able to pull him out, measure him, record his information, the age, the sex, all that stuff and then we can get the little band on his leg."
People can also adopt hummingbirds that are banded and, if they're re-caught in the future, you'll be notified by postcard where they were found, as well as other information about the bird.
There will also be fun activities for kids, including the Hummingbird Olympics to see if kids can do some of the things hummingbirds do.
Adults can learn how to make their yards a refuge for pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. There will also be native plants on sale so you can attract those pollinators to your own yard.
To control the flow of people showing up, free timed tickets will be given out at the nature center.
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