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Privacy Policy

Our policy on your privacy.

Your privacy is as important to me as it is to you. Here's how I deal with it.

We recognize that your privacy is important. This document outlines the types of personal information we receive and collect when you use Hummingbird-guide.com, as well as some of the steps we take to safeguard information. We hope this will help you make an informed decision about sharing personal information with us. Hummingbird-guide.com strives to maintain the highest standards of decency, fairness and integrity in all our operations. Likewise, we are dedicated to protecting our customers', consumers' and online visitors' privacy on our website.

Introduction.

We are Jim and Ruth White and We're the owners of this website, “The Hummingbird Guide”.

Our own privacy is important to us when we visit other people's websites, so we understand how important privacy is. The information you share with us is as important to us as it is to you.

We’ve taken steps under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to make sure any information you give us is secure, only seen by people who need to see it, and within your control.

You can find out exactly why we need the information, what happens to it, who will see it and how we keep it secure by reading this privacy policy. If you’re still unsure, you’ll be able to contact us.

We maintain the highest standards of honesty and fairness in everything we write for this website, and we apply exactly the same standards when we deal with the information you trust us with.

Why we need to collect information in the first place.

Some of the reasons we need to collect information are to:

  • run this site so it displays information correctly, and to improve it when it doesn't
  • make your experience of using the site more personal and enjoyable
  • improve the products and service we offer you
  • improve our customer service, and help us respond to your requests more efficiently
  • run a contest, or a promotion, or to supply a survey
  • reply to any enquiries, questions or requests
  • send emails, which can include electronic newsletters and auto-responder emails
  • send information which you agree to receive about topics we think will interest you.

Why we collect your personal information.

We never collect personally identifiable information (that is, information which may identify you such as your name or email address) without your knowledge. If we ask for personal information it's because you have volunteered to give it to us, for example if you sign up for our online newsletter or get in touch through our ‘contact’ page.

We only collect your personal information when we need it. We need it for these reasons:

  • When you contact us for any reason, using one of our contact forms, you agree to give us your name and email address so we can reply to you.
  • As soon as our correspondence has finished, we delete all your personal information. We do not keep it or use it in any other way unless we ask your permission first.
  • When you sign up for our newsletter, we collect your name and email address so that we can send you newsletters, as explained in our newsletter information. In case you can’t remember what that is, here’s a link. 
  • We keep that information for as long as you want to receive our newsletters. There is always an “unsubscribe” link in every newsletter and email we send. If you click on that link, you will be immediately unsubscribed from our emails and your information will be permanently deleted.
  • If you fill in a form on my “Share Hummingbird Pictures” , we ask for your name and email address. You don’t have to fill that information in when you send photos if you don’t want to. If you do, the information and photo will appear.
  • This information remains on the website for as long as you want your story to stay. If you’d prefer it to be taken off, you just need to get in touch with us.

If you give us personal information, we give you a 100% promise in return that the information will be used only for the reason you’ve shared it.

We hate spam. We will never send you any information you have not requested. Even if you opt to receive information (like the newsletter) when you sign up, you will always be able to unsubscribe from it.

We will make clear exactly how you can stop receiving it both in newsletters and in any correspondence we may have.

Where your information goes.

We will never share your personal information to anyone for commercial or any other use. It will be used only for the purpose you provided it on this website.

Sometimes, though, for specific reasons, we need to share your information with someone else. 

We make sure we only use other individuals and companies we know and trust. We have also been careful to make sure they are also compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation, so we are confident they will also keep your data safe.

The companies who may hold your information are:

• When you sign up for our newsletter, a well-respected company called ConvertKit stores your name and email address securely, so that we can contact you. 

• If you submit your photo to my “Share Hummingbird Pictures", SiteSell, the company which hosts our website, stores your information securely on their servers.


Your rights within the General Data Protection Regulation.

Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced specifically to protect the data of individuals. Although at present it only protects people in Europe, our view is that its extremely high standards should be a protection for everyone, worldwide.

We value everyone who visits this website, wherever you may come from. Which is why all our policies and practices, not just those which impact on Europeans, follow GDPR's requirements. 

So this privacy policy is our statement to you of our commitment to protect your personal information. If you would like to update that information or have it deleted from our records, you just need to click on this link and let me know. 

If you think your personal information is not being used properly and you want to make a complaint, you should firstly contact us and ask me to put right whatever is wrong, explaining the problem as clearly as you can.

If you’re not satisfied with our response, you have every right to lodge a formal complaint. The best way to do this is to contact a lawyer and say you want to complain under the terms of the GDPR.

Non-personal information and "cookies".

Personal information, such as your name and email address, is never collected automatically. We only have it when you choose to give it us.

However, when you visit The Hummingbird Guide, some statistical information is collected automatically. The reason we collect it is so that we can constantly improve your experience of visiting our site.

This type of information includes the name of your Internet Service Provider, your Internet Protocol address, the name of your internet browser, and other numerical data such as which pages you visited, how many pages you looked at and how long you stayed on the site.

This information helps us to know which parts of our site you’re most interested in. That means we can make sure we write articles which focus on the subjects you’re most likely to want to read.

Cookies:

That information is collected by means of “cookies”. A cookie is a tiny bit of code placed by this website on your computer. Each time you come here, your browser gives my computer that code so we know that you've come back. That helps us know the kinds of articles that are most helpful to you.

Google Analytics Cookies: We use a service called Google Analytics to analyse how you use this website. It collects demographic data and information about your interests, for example, by means of cookies. The cookies are kept on your computer. the information is shared with Google, which stores the information on its servers and then gives me statistical reports.

Google's own privacy policy is available here.

The Hummingbird Guide uses the information from Google Analytics to track the number of visits to the site and operating systems. No personally identifiable information is obtained from these cookies.

If you would rather your data is not collected via Google analytics, you can install its opt-out browser extension by clicking here.

If you want to, you can turn cookies off by disabling them in your browser. You can learn how to do this at the About Cookies website. 

You can set your browser to accept or reject all cookies automatically, or they can notify you when a cookie is being requested so you can decide what to do.

Web beacons are similar. They track your journey around a website, or a collection of websites. They’re most often used to monitor traffic to a site.

Disabling either cookies or web beacons should not cause a problem with the continued use of this website, but it may prevent some of its interactive features.

Advertising.

We use third-party advertising companies (Google) to serve ads on this website. Google uses cookies and web beacons in their ads to check how many times you've seen an advertisement.

We do not provide them with any personally identifiable information for cookie or web beacon use, so they cannot personally identify you with that information from this website.

Google uses the “DoubleClick” cookie to serve ads. This cookie enables Google to serve ads based on your visits to other sites on the Web.

You can opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie at any time, by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy. If you want more information about how Google deals with data in its ad products, see this article.

And you can opt out of personalized ads from up to 125 different ad networks by clicking on this link.

We are an official partner with Mediavine who provide the ads on this website.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)

We are an official partner with Mediavine who provide the ads on this website.

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The "help" feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

  • IP Address
  • Operating System type
  • Operating System version
  • Device Type
  • Language of the website
  • Web browser type
  • Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.

For information regarding data collection by Mediavine ad partners including how to opt out of data collection, please click here

Affiliate products.

We recommend some products we love and we think you might, too, from affiliate companies on this website. You can find our affiliate provider's separate policy about affiliates, including who they are and where you can find out how they use data below:

Commission Junction

ShareASale

Social media.

You’ll notice on this website there are links to Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube. When you click on them or leave a comment, your browser connects directly with that site and sends information such as your IP address, the date and time of your visit and information about how you use the social site.

Should you wish to prevent those platforms from collecting data, please view their individual policies by using the following links: 

YouTube 

Pinterest

Twitter

Facebook: to prevent Facebook collecting your data, you should log out of your Facebook account while using this site.

Privacy and children.

WE work hard to make sure that Hummingbird-guide.com is a family-friendly site.

However, it is not intended for use by children without parental supervision, particularly children under sixteen years of age.

We operate in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and Article 8 of the GDPR.

We will never knowingly collect or use personal information from anyone under 16 years of age. Children under that age must have permission from a parent or legal guardian before asking questions, sharing stories or buying anything from this site.

If you're worried about your children's activities or their privacy on this site, please e-mail me through my “Contact” page.

Data storage.

Personally and non-personally identifiable information collected by this site is stored on our host's servers. That host is SiteSell, and they are located at 1000, Sant-Jean Boulevard, Suite 702, Pointe-Claire, Quebec QC H9R 5P1, Canada.

If you would like to review your information stored on the SiteSell servers, then please click on this link. You'll also be able to edit, download or delete any of your information from the servers when you click on that link.

If you have submitted personally identifiable information through this website, and you'd like to update it or have it deleted entirely from my records, please click on this link.

Information transfer.

If we ever sell Hummingbird-guide.com, information you have given us voluntarily may transfer to the new owner. Should that happen, you will receive notice through our website of the change and we will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the purchaser honours any opt-out requests you might make.

Updates to this policy.

From time to time, we will review this policy to make sure it's kept up-to-date with current legal requirements. We may need to make changes to it. If we do, we will make it clear on this site and provide a link to the updated privacy policy.

We would encourage you to review this policy from time to time so that you will always know what information we collect and how it’s used.

Agreeing to terms.

If you do not agree to our privacy policy as posted here, please do not consent to the setting of cookies, or the collection and storage of your personally identifiable information.

Your explicit consent indicates acceptance of this privacy policy. 

If you have any particular worries, questions or comments about this policy, please use our contact page to let us know.

For California Residents:
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), enacted in 2018, creates new consumer rights relating to the access to, deletion of, and sharing of personal information that is collected by businesses.

We (hummingbird-guide.com) have not sold any personal information in the previous 12 months.

Last updated:
Wednesday, January 1, 2020.

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