Hummers

"Big Red" came first, followed two days later by "Lady Bird." Excited--no, I was actually giddy--I grabbed my camera and rushed outside. I'd almost given up hope, afraid that the violent storms we and the rest of the country had recently experienced had altered their course, or worse, had wiped out the hummingbirds migrating north. I usually hang my feeder the first of April; a hummer almost always appears the same day or the day after. This year they were two weeks late.

  

 "Big Red"

 "Big Red" posing for the camera. Wish his right 

wing hadn't been behind his back. Oh, well, 

at least he came. Note his big band of red.

Lady Bird"

 "Lady Bird and "Big Red"

For a week or so, I re-filled the one feeder every three days. Where were the rest of my hummers?

"Big Red" and "Lady Bird"

 Then there were four!

 Then there were five!

 My lone feeder on the deck stayed busy, needed filling once or twice a day! What did I do? I added a second feeder.

 

 "Big Red" at the first feeder.

Thrilled about my hummers, I soon noticed that I was refilling feeders each day. What to do? I hung a third feeder, this one on the front porch. 

 "Little Red"

Meet "Little Red."  If you click on the picture to enlarge, you  will see the tiny red dot on his throat. He's a male, a young one. It's interesting, but I've gotten to know my hummers. "Little Red" has marks on his neck other than the red dot; he's the only one I have who has the other markings.

  Can you find the seven hummers?

For over three weeks, 20 or more hummingbirds have lived at my feeders. Sorry I can't get a picture of all of them, but they fly and flit too fast, and my camera can't catch them. If I could put all three feeders beside each other, then maybe I could get a blurry picture of hummingbird activity.

I refill my #1 deck feeder four or 5 times a day. Number 2 deck feeder is refilled four times each day, and front-porch feeder two to three times.

 Tools for my hummingbird food: 8-cup measuring 

cup, large pot; small pitcher for extra, funnel,

measuring cup for pouring into feeders, and feeders.

Each night I fill three feeders with sugar water and line them up on the kitchen counter so they will be ready to hang by 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. Also at night I measure eight cups of water in the Pyrex measuring bowl pictured above, boil it in the large pot, pour two cups of sugar in the boiling water, stir, and let cool overnight. So far I've gone through four five-pound bags of sugar. Tomorrow I'll open my fifth five-pound bag.