Hummingbirds

It is about one week from the official day of spring and the birds started to migrate north for the season. Soon, around the first part of May we'll spot hummingbirds flitting around our humming bird feeders, flower and vegetable gardens. Here in the Northeastern states by late spring if you planted garden sage you'll have hummingbirds visit as the sage produces a blue/purple flower. Hummingbirds usually return to the same area they visited last year. With his metallic green body and brilliant red throat they will look for the nectar feeder in the same place you hung it last season. Many hummingbirds display site faithfulness.

The dominant male at both the flowers and the feeders in the area maintain control over the food and habitat by chasing all other male birds away. Male hummingbirds exchange food for sex from the females.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds publicize their superiority with exciting aerial exhibitions. They fly from about 45 feet above the garden diving down and back up to the same height often. These flights form the letter "U." These displays of flight alert other male hummingbirds to stay away and influence females hummers in the territory.

Like other male ruby-throats they take no part in the rearing of the young. Female ruby-throats choose the nest sites. The female builds a tiny cups like nest. She uses plant down, fibers, and bud scales. She attaches the nest to a tree limb with spider silk. She places her nest about 10 to 20 feet above the ground. After five to ten days of nest building, the female lays the first of two pure white eggs, that are the size of navy beans.

Throughout the southeastern states, two broods per season are common. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the northern parts of the country raise one brood.

Short cold weather cycles do not bother adult hummingbirds. They endure low temperatures by placing themselves into a state of inactivity or a temporary dormant state to save energy. Being dormant slows down their respiratory and metabolic systems, making the birds seem to be asleep or dead.

Sometime around the middle of September the hummingbirds will start migrating south again. The most amazing characteristic of the hummingbird is their annual migration to and from the Tropics. The male hummingbird leaves first, followed by the females and later by juveniles. It is truly amazing how a young hummingbird, a few weeks old knows when to fly south, where to go, and how to get there. Most birds migrate south to their wintering grounds in the Gulf Coast, Mexico, and Central America.

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