Baseball and hummingbirds

 

I like baseball. I like hummingbirds. So it's great that their seasons match. You don’t see them in winter. They spring train in Florida and Arizona and come north for the regular season. I know that when the first pitch of the Major League season is tossed, it is time to look for the first hummingbirds.

               It is that time of the year.  
               Hummingbirds are the favorite sightings around most homes. They stand out because they are tiny, bold, raucous and acrobatic. They have toothpick bills and lightning wings that allow them to hover and even fly backwards.
               For most of us, they arrive in the spring and depart in the fall. In southern Florida and the Southwest, you may have hummingbirds year round. People in the West are fortunate enough to have a number of species during the summer. But, for folks in the East, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is about the only species we have. It is not that uncommon for a Rufous Hummingbird to show up at an eastern feeder from time to time, but don't count on it.
               I usually start looking for hummingbirds around April 1. I say that because reports of others in my region start around that time. I'm in eastern North Carolina. But I actually see my first one around mid-April. I'm not sure why. But I suspect family tradition - a family group that follows the same path each year. But that's just a guess. I see my last one of the year around mid-to-late September.
               They winter from southern Mexico to as far as South America.

               You can find a handy little map that shows the northern progression of the migration here:

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html#faq

               We've discussed the types of feeders that attract hummingbirds. There are just a couple - a pan-shaped type or a tube or bottle type. Most have bright-red coloring to help attract the birds. And they have tiny ports for tiny bills. I once made rig of baby-food jars with ice-pick holes in the top. Never had luck with that. Most hummingbird feeders are inexpensive anyway.

               I hang a pan-type feeder. It seems to handle the wind OK, and the birds seem to like it. Ants sometimes show up, but some feeders have special cup-like devices to hold the ants at bay. You can buy them too.

Food mixture

               Hummingbirds like nectar. If you have azaleas, honeysuckles, morning glories or any number of other flowering plants in your yard, you may see hummingbirds hovering around. Hummingbirds also eat insects.

               But we attract them by planting the flowers they like and offering sugar water in feeders.
               You can buy hummingbird-food mixtures in stores. But it really isn't necessary. All you need is sugar water. Just take four cups of water and mix in one cup of sugar. Warm it until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool down, and it is ready. You can take what you don't use right away, and put it in a jar to store in the refrigerator. It will keep for a couple of weeks.

               Next time I’ll talk about pests, particularly squirrels.

               Now, here’s what I saw around my feeding station today:

PM, rainy, 45 degrees, 20 minutes
Brown Thrasher
Mourning Dove
White-throated Sparrow
House Finch
Chipping Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Tufted Titmouse
American Robin
Carolina Wren
American Goldfinch