Only A Few More Weeks to Enjoy the Hummers!

We love the little guys! Starting in late April, when we put up nectar feeders, we eagerly watch for that flash of neon red, and listen for those tell-tale buzzing and chipping noises.

 

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds come back to Vermont when the amount of daylight tells them to, even if there’s still snow on the ground. Returning birds go to the exact spot where there were feeders last year. 

If foolish humans put up the feeder pole in a different location, the bird will hover in that spot for a minute or two before looking around for another option.

 

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes these tiny birds as “precision flyers”. They zip around at top speed, like giant bees, and stop on a dime. They can hang motionless in the air and then abruptly move up or down or sideways or even backwards. Their wings, which are short for their bodies, beat 60-80 times a second. 

But they do stop moving sometimes. Just like other birds, they take time every day to preen their feathers.

Ahhh! All clean and beautiful again!

The first female arrives a week or more after the male. 

This year we were both lucky enough to see the male in acrobatic courtship flight. He first makes huge U-shaped loops over and over and then, if she perches, he faces her and rapidly flies back and forth in front of her.

The female makes a nest that's not much bigger than a walnut half, using thistle or dandelion fluff held together with strands from spider webs. She puts tiny bits of lichen or moss outside, which acts as camouflage. When she’s done with her lovely little construction, she lays 1-3 white eggs, each weighing less than one-fiftieth of an ounce. Her mate plays no part in caring for the eggs or the young, which fledge after two to three weeks.

Young Ruby-throated Hummingbirds look like their mothers but with shorter bills. 

The males are fierce defenders of their favorite flowers or nectar feeders, chasing away even their own mates and their own offspring. They choose a perch that gives them a good view of their territory and they sit, always alert, their bills waving from side to side ...

and always alert!

.

Hummingbirds of all kinds feed from many different  flowers as well as sugar water put out for them by humans. Feeders with clear sides let us see the tiny birds’ very long tongues as they flick in and out, lapping the nectar. (Part of the tongue is visible in this photo.)

If Ruby-throated Hummingbirds get to Vermont before any flowers any out, they’ll follow sapsuckers and drink at their sap “wells”. They also take tiny insects for protein. Hummingbirds save energy during cold nights by lowering their body temperature and heart rates.

Now, in late August, the males are fattening up for migration. They're also molting, trading worn feathers for new.

 

There may be some adult males coming through Vermont from farther north. There are two ruby-throats showing in this picture, a rare sight for our backyard!

Adult males usually leave northern Vermont in late August, although one lingered until September 5 several years back. September 20 was the latest date for females or juveniles. They’ve all got a long trip ahead of them, all the way to the Gulf Coast of the United States or even Central America. Many of “our” Ruby-throated Hummingbirds fly directly across the Gulf of Mexico, 500 miles nonstop. That seems so implausible that people used to think they migrated by riding on Canada Geese!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird are the only breeding hummingbird in the eastern U.S., but another species can show up late in the migration season. Rufous Hummingbirds nest in the Pacific Northwest up into Alaska. For unknown reasons, every now and then one takes a ridiculously long route to the Yucatan, heading first east-south-east and then south and then west again. These little beauties have shown up in New England as late as December, and they really appreciate finding a filled nectar feeder! 

photos by Bernie, words by Maeve