Southward Bound

With autumn underway our summer dwelling birds are leaving for their migration to warmer climates. Our little green herons are already gone from the pond, I haven't seen the Indigo Buntings nor the Blue Grosbeaks in a few days, and I no longer hear the melodious song of the Wood Thrush in the evenings.

Our smallest summer residents, the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, are beginning to leave also. The males have flown south already as I haven't seen one this week. However, some females are still here. Both sexes are metallic green above. The males, as seen here, have a red throat (called a gorget) and a solid black double pointed tail while the female has a white throat and a fan-shaped black tail with white at the end.










From Paintings By GG

These tiny aerial acrobats fly so fast that they are pretty hard to capture in a photo. They have been clocked as fast as 60 MPH, their wings can rotate up to 78 beats per second, and they can hover, fly directly up or down, sideways, and backwards. Baker loaned me a tripod so with his help and encouragement I was able to take several good shots of some having a territorial fight at the hummingbird feeder on my porch, a few of which I will share with you.

Hummingbirds live only in the western hemisphere and some are the smallest birds in the world. Of 388 species only 16 live in the contiguous US. The Ruby- throated Hummingbird is the only one who lives east of the Mississippi River and they travel to central America for winter. In the late summer they must fatten up to make their long journey, as these tiny birds fly from the southern coasts all the way across the Gulf of Mexico to their winter home. This is an astonishing 500-mile, non-stop journey across the water for such a little creature. Excluding beak and tail they are no longer than two knuckles on your finger!

Hummingbirds get their energy by eating the nectar from flowers (as well as sugar-water from feeders)and their needed protein from tiny insects and spiders. They are very territorial and defend their food sources diligently. When in confrontations around a feeder they can fly so fast they are seen as just blurred streaks! Though they chase each other viciously they never seem to make contact or hurt one another.

Sometimes there were three in this aerial battle but I was never able to catch more than two at a time in a photo. With camera on tripod I then stood still and waited for the action. The two females here twirled around each other for some time before the intruder finally gave up and flew away, leaving the first to devour her "nectar" in peace.

By next week they will all have flown south. We will all sorely miss their presence and antics until their return next spring.