By Joel Thurtell
Still hummin’.
On Thursday, September 30, 2010, ruby-throated hummingbirds still were taking sugar water from the plastic feeders hanging from the eaves of our house in Plymouth, Michigan.
When we left Georgian Bay in northern Ontario late in August, the ruby-throats there were quite aggressive. They engaged in dramatic territorial “dances,” facing off against each other in flight a few inches apart and racing high and low.
On returning to Plymouth, where we’d had no feeders out during our absence, I put out several feeders and almost immediately had hummers zeroing in on them. They are behaving quite differently from the hummers in Canada. There’s none of that aggressive, rapid flight with high swoops and dives and loud buzzing. Our hummers are moving pretty slowly now. You don’t hear any humming.
I suspect it’s a function of the time of year, more than geography. Rubythroats are tanking up with as much food — nectar from flowers, insects and sugar water from humans’ artificial feeders — so they can make the long trip south to Mexico for the winter. I’m guessing that if there still are hummers at our Canada cottage, they must be acting much the same, slowing down to conserve energy and build up fat for the long flight to winter grounds.
A couple years ago, I saw a hummer on October 7, so I figure there are still a few days when we can watch these amazing birds.
Even when the last ruby-throat has departed, I plan to keep the feeders up.
Some people think that if you keep the feeders up, you delay the hummers’ departure and maybe even endanger them. In fact, the trigger for their departure is the lessening light of the fall, not the convenience of a local food source. The hummers will know when it’s time to leave, and no free lunch will keep them here.
But a relative of the ruby-throat, the rufous hummingbird, might well like a few sips from my feeders. The ruby-throat is the only hummer that summers east of the Mississippi. Several species of hummers spend parts or all of their lives in the West. One of them is the rufous hummingbird, which migrates to the Northwest of Canada and Alaska for the summer. It lives farther north than any other hummer.
Occasionally, a rufous hummingbird will wander through Michigan on its way South for the winter in southern Mexico.
Rufous hummers have wandered as far east as Nova Scotia and Florida and have been seen in Michigan.
If I leave my feeders up, I might have the pleasure of seeing one of these rarities — a rufous hummingbird.
And I might help the little bird on its long haul South.
For more on hummingbirds, see Enjoying Hummingbirds in the Wild & In Your Yard, by Larry and Terrie Gates, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA 2008 and The Hummingbird Book; The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Enjoying Hummingbirds, by Donald and Lillian Stokes, Little, Brown, New York, 1989.
Drop me a line at joelthurtell@gmail.com
