Autumn's here. Are the hummers gone?
I made the two photos in this post, of a ruby-throat hummingbird checking out a canna lily near my workroom window, a couple of days ago. Yet even as I captured the moment, I couldn't help but wonder whether they won't turn out to be the last shots I'll make this year of summer's delightful little hummers?
Perhaps not, though last night's low dipped into the mid-40˚s, and it's now coming up on noon and the temperature is still only 58˚F. Not exactly hummingbird weather. Most, I suspect, have already deserted these parts, heading southward toward Central America where they'll spend the winter.
I'll certainly miss their zippy antics, whirring wings, and living jewel flashes of iridescent emerald. But procrastination in commencing this long migration can prove fatal. Everything has its season—and for the tiny hummer, that time hereabouts has probably drawn to a close.
8 comments:
HI GRIZZ
beautiful pictures. Our finally arrived in August hummingbirds left for Mexico on September 1st!! I enjoyed every chirp, hum, flutter and rhythmic flight/dance.
Love Gail
peace.....
Gail…
It's a lovely day here—bright sun, deep blue sky, though a bit cool…which I really like. However, I've not seen a hummer since making these photos day before yesterday. I expect they're gone. And I'll miss them.
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't keep the hummingbird feeders going this year. The bees kept taking over the feeders. We didn't have near the number that we had last year on the neighbors' feeders,and I wonder if the drought had anything to do with it. I will try and do better next year.
Debbie
Debbie…
I had lots of hummers here this year, while one of my nearest neighbors saw almost none. Go figure! Drought, blooms (or lack thereof), heat, cold, rain, wind…all can affect the numbers of hummers hanging around. And not only where you live, but where the birds traveled on their way to your place. Maybe next year will be a boom year.
Yes Grizz, it is always sad when our summer visitors depart isn't it.
Grizz: We still had a hummer in our garden yesterday (September 22) coming to a feeder, but we're warmer here than you are. Usually, I tell people to take down hummingbird feeders on September 15 so that they don't encourage hummingbirds to stay beyond a "safe" date; I guess I ought to follow my own advice.
Weaver…
While I hate to see them depart, I try to keep their leaving in perspective—so if not sad, certainly a noetic moment, pensive and sobering in its inarguable proof of time's relentless passage. I'm no fan of summer's hot weather…but I love many things about the season, from flowers to butterflies and dragonflies, to singing insects and shimmering hummingbirds. They animate the landscape, and often cheer me simply by being so wonderfully, beautifully alive.
Scott…
The oddest thing…while I was answering Weaver's comment above, I looked up and saw a hummingbird at this very same canna bloom beyond my window. The first I've seen all day, and the first since I made the post pix three days ago. Plus, here it is 5:15 p.m. on a cool day that's struggled to reach the mid-60˚s F.
You know, there are two hummingbird feeder "facts" I've never quite believed—one being that a sugar-water ratio of greater than 4:1 (4 parts water, 1 part sugar) was unhealthy for the birds, with the second being that a hard-and-fast date for taking down feeders can be set. I think both have been bandied about and repeated so often they're now accepted as scientifically proven, when such is not the case. Plus, on the face of it, they tend to make a sort of logical sense—as if they should be correct.
Yet several years ago I asked one of the world's leading ruby-throat authorities about the validity of the sugar-water mix and he began by saying he uses a 2:1 mix in his own feeders, and sometimes even closer to 1:1! No actual study proving otherwise exists, I was told. So I tend to use a 3:1 mix.
The fixed date business might be an okay ballpark, but years and seasons vary considerably. Moreover, I'm not sure, given a hummer's blazing metabolism, that a little easy-to-take-on extra food along the way might not be a good thing, and that a case couldn't be made that for every bird you encourage to linger too long (if any; again, there's no proof) you don't offset that one by saving two or three weakened and weary travelers already on the move. Just my reasoning, of course. And I can't prove it's right, either.
Here's what I go by, which makes pretty good sense to me: so long as there are flowers blooming and hummers to be seen feeding upon them, I leave my feeders up…and I allow them the remain up for about a week after seeing the last hummer working a blossom. Sort of taking my cue from nature. And I admit, this may stem as much from my upbringing as my amateur ornithology skills. I was brought up in a home where hospitality dictated no one—friend, family, neighbor, stranger, and sometimes folks you just didn't care about all that much—was allowed to leave your home hungry. I don't want a hungry hummer to pass through my riverbank yard and go away hungry.
I say you did good breaking your own advice and leaving your feeder up!
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