On August 1 the first rufous hummingbird arrived at one of our two feeders. Already on his way from breeding grounds as far north as Alaska to overwinter somewhere in South America. I find it hard to believe that such a tiny, but very feisty, bird covers such huge distances every year, but that is what the books say.
We see the migration at the end of the summer and seldom on the way north in Spring, but we have become a regular stopover in August. All month long we see a couple of varieties on the feeders, mostly black chinned, some Anna's, and the rufous (we call them Rufios) and I end up filling the feeders twice a day. We go through a lot of sugar.
In another couple of weeks it will all be over, but I continue putting a feeder out even in the winter. There always seem to be a few birds who decide late to go south and are happy to find some quick energy, and some of them stick around here all winter and survive in freezing temperatures. They are amazing little birds.
2 comments:
WOW!! we occasionally get two on the feeder at the same time. Can't imagine a crew like you have. Did see one a couple of days ago on a dahlia in the cutting garden - which is right outside the window by my desk. That was neat.
Hope you are well and the weather good. (We may get a bit of rain today/tomorrow from the hurricane, but i think it's moving East and will miss us completely. We need the water right now. Less than 2 inches in August - our hottest month.)
Wonderful video. You and Danny need to check out Paul Dinning channel on YouTube. You could start your own "hummer" channel!
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