Let’s Talk Hummingbirds
I’m happy to say that I’ve discovered the sweetest little treasures! One day in July I was outside watering my flowers and saw what I thought was a hummingbird. I only saw her for a split second out of the corner of my eye as she zipped by, but I was elated at what I’d seen! I hadn’t noticed any hummingbirds being around my house in years.
If you know me, you most likely know that I am a bird lover. Birds amaze and fascinate me. It's true, I act a lot crazy when I see a bird such a as Bald Eagle or an owl, but honestly, any rare bird sighting gets me excited. I point them out to my family or friends and scream when they soar over, or in this case buzz by. My son was outside with me when the hummingbird escapade began and I pointed one out to him. He said, “I can never see them, they are exactly like the Golden Snitch in Harry Potter!” That name stuck, so in our house, they are lovingly nicknamed “Snitchies”. Their real-world nicknames are, “Flying Jewels”.
On the list of birds that delight me, hummingbirds are way at the top. They come and go so quickly, that I’ve never gotten a good chance to study them in person. After my initial sighting, I reckoned if I’d seen one, I could see more, so we went to work to see them again. Like my husband said, “If we build it, they will come” (Thanks, Field of Dreams)
We headed out and bought a feeder, found an old shepherd’s hook in the garage, and put it right outside my office window. I researched online how to make the “nectar” they drink, filled up said feeder, and sat about waiting for them to come. (Don’t ever use any fake nectar with red coloring). Now that I’m working from home, my new office is in our front room and my desk is only about 10 feet from the window…literally a bird’s eye view.
And let me tell you they did not disappoint! For the last four weeks, my little, fast-winged friends have been coming to visit, all day, every day. They’ve captured the attention of my entire family. In my office, there is a couch even closer to the window, so when anyone has a minute of downtime or wants to visit me while I’m working, they get a full-blown “Snitchie” encounter from a few feet away. All of us have fallen in love with these amazing creatures!
Since I’ve only ever caught glimpses of them, adding the feeder has allowed me to see details I’d never noticed. Some of them hover facing the window and I can see little white tips on the bottom of their tailfeathers. They all have iridescent, shiny green feathers on their backs, but the amount of white on their bellies seems to vary. Much fewer have a bright, raspberry color on their throats. Being so drawn to them, I wanted to learn more, so the researcher in me took to the internet.
My first step was to see what species of hummingbirds I was getting to see, so I searched the types of hummingbirds that were in Indiana. We have six different ones spotted in our fair state, the most common being Ruby Throated Hummingbirds…hence the “ruby” color I see on a few of my friends. (There are over 330 species of hummingbirds in the world, and they only live in the Americas). The Ruby Throated is the only type of hummingbird to make a nest in Indiana and have babies during their stay. Hummingbirds are migratory, nesting here only during our warmer months, between March and December, but are most common from May to September.
When it turns colder in North America, their migration takes them to warmer weather. Some of these little guys travel on journeys lasting thousands of miles and spanning as far north as Canada to as far south as Panama. Some of our Ruby Throated friends fly 500 miles straight across the Gulf of Mexico on both their spring and fall treks. For only being a little over 2 inches long, that is a ridiculously amazing journey!
These tiny guys weigh about 3 grams, which is close to the weight of a penny. They are the smallest type of bird in the world, but they are mighty. Some have been recorded flying 23 miles in one day at speeds upward of 30 miles per hour. Their little wings beat 50 times per SECOND, so they burn a ton of energy and need to eat all the time…like every 10-15 minutes throughout the day. They can hover, fly forward, backward, and even upside down!
We love to see them, so we make sure to change their nectar and clean their feeder several times a week. I clean it with a hot water rinse, and the food is a simple mixture of 1 cup of hot water mixed with ¼ cup of regular sugar. While hummingbirds will drink artificial nectar, they prefer the real nectar found in flowers and can visit up to 1,000 flowers a day!
As the weeks have gone on, I can tell the females from the males. The females are a little browner in color, with a bigger section of white on their stomachs, and do not have the distinguishing ruby neckline. In my research, I found that the babies hatch being the same size as adults, and all of them look like females. (Their nests are the size of a half dollar and their eggs are the size of jellybeans). It’s not until they get a little older that males gain their ruby feathers. And as the summer has gone on, there are a lot more gaining those ruby feathers, so what I thought were mostly females at our feeder, are actually a lot of young males. It’s all so fascinating.
I have always been in love with nature and amazed with God’s creations, but these little guys have stolen the show! I find myself saying hello to them and being able to tell them apart. They are fun to watch and are super territorial. We have one female who will chase off and dive bomb anyone else that comes near “her” feeder. There is only one time I’ve seen her sharing the feeder, and it was with a young male, so I’m wondering if that one is her son. Even in the bird world, the moms share with their offspring!
Well, that’s enough of my hummingbird saga for the day. I hope this puts a smile on your face as my little treasures do for me every day. They are a reminder for me to take time to notice the beauty in my world. Life can be hard and the daily grind can make us all have tunnel vision, where we see nothing but our tasks. I’m hoping you will take a moment today to appreciate and be thankful for all the little wonders in our lives, and in doing so, your heart will be a little lighter and your path a little happier.
To check out more details, interesting facts, videos, and pictures about hummingbirds, take a look at the websites I researched for this piece:
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/g19632825/hummingbird-facts/
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird/id
https://www.thespruce.com/when-is-hummingbird-migration-386451
