Maybe because I’m a creature of habit, I enjoy the habits of other creatures. In particular, the migration habits of birds. I had a reminder this evening that The Great Mandala is still in spin.
I was minding my own business, trying to get some reading time in while watching Common Grackles head to their roost, and Chimney Swifts and Tree Swallows seine the air for bugs too small for me to see (go get ‘em guys!), when a Ruby-throated Hummingbird chose to hover about 12 inches from my face.
Whoa there, buddy! Do I look like a flower? Not hardly.
I blinked once or twice and he was on his way—but where? We’ve had a healthy crop of hummers all summer and they are a pleasure. Too bad we get only one species here in Ohio. But ya take what ya can get. I commented to Susan just a couple nights ago that it seemed like suddenly we had a lot of male hummers hanging around, make that chasing around, the feeders the past few days.
Sure enough, in spite of the record-setting high temperatures (or maybe because of them) hummingbirds are on the move, headed for Central America, mostly. According to available data, hummingbirds start moving out of this region as early as July. It’s all about available food supplies and these guys need as much food as possible since they really don’t store fat for the multi-thousand-mile trip like other birds.
In fact, don’t look now, but almost all the migrating birds are on the move. Shorebirds from northern breeding grounds, local nesters and first-year birds from all over are making a pit stop here in Ohio, on their way to the places where they spend most of their lives. We have them here for a short time, breeding season, then one day you go looking for Red-wing Blackbirds for example, and you learn the train has left the station.
Better check the garage this weekend for those snow shovels.
1 comment:
Hummers are always interesting. I increased the sugar proportion and suddenly a few turned into a gang of 10 - 15. They're taking about a container per day. When I go out to re-fill it one or more is in my face.
Like, get your ass moving, now, now, now!
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