Getting to Know You: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

one of the best things about backyard birds is getting to know all of the little things about them!

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It’s that time, again! Time to talk about one of my favorite summer tourists - the Ruby-throated Hummingbird!

If you’ve been hanging out with me here at Nature Moments for very long, you know that this is one of my all-time favorite hummingbird moments. Hummingbirds are so fast, so busy, and so tiny, that it’s a bit rare to catch one at just the right place at just the right time!

On this one particular summer day, the sunshine was behind me and the forest was behind her, as she hovered next to the feeder just long enough for me to etch her image onto the canvas of my memory. She frequently reminds me to Just Be Amazed!

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Like so many people all across the country, I look forward to the arrival of the hummingbirds each spring with joyful anticipation. They usually get to our house in early May.

In one of those happy intersections of technology and nature, you can now follow the northward journey of the hummingbirds at sites like Hummingbird Central, where citizen scientists and general enthusiasts report their sightings. You can watch the progress of tiny hummingbird icons unfold across the map on their way to your backyard, when you can finally report your first sighting, too!

Our local hummingbirds follow a very dependable pattern. Each season, we see a male arrive, followed a few days later by two females. A constant buzzy tension persists among these three all summer long. One at the feeder, periodically challenged by another dive-bombing from a branch nearby, a furious aerial pursuit, and repeat.

Hummingbirds live 3-5 years on average in the wild, so we know that our individual visitors have changed, but somehow this dynamic is handed down through the generations so that we have a similar experience with them every year.

They arrive with the earliest blossoms in the trees, before the wildflowers begin to bloom, although the dandelions will roll out a golden welcome mat soon after. We put the feeder out as soon as we’ve heard the first tell-tale hum announcing their presence in our area.

I wasn’t prepared for how much I would grow to treasure the humming sound of their wings. It’s a hum that is mild in tone yet absolutely brimming with energy, the melodic rhythms rising and falling with the vibrance of their constant activity.

You can hear the tone change as they transition from hovering to traveling, from nectar-gathering to adversary-chasing, all of their various actions accompanied by an appropriately descriptive soundtrack, like the piano that accompanies a silent film. Even when I can’t see them, I can often follow what they’re up to by sound alone.

In the morning, I wake to the notification that the hummingbirds are beginning their day, the gentle thrum of their first visits to the feeder resonating through the walls of the cabin to my reluctantly surfacing consciousness.

As long as the day begins with a thrum, summer is in the air! When it all-too-soon departs, winter will be on its way again. An elegant rhythm of changing seasons, arranged for winged instruments.

I adore everything about the hummingbirds. Their fierce eyes, their shimmering plumage, those ridiculously-perfect teeny tucked-in feet.

I feed the hummingbirds, less because they need it, and more because I selfishly want to see them as much as I can, as close as I can. They effortlessly brighten my day, just by showing up.

They will sip from any kind of flower, sometimes laughably so. Any spot of color will draw their curious exploration.

They are so fast that they are not overly afraid of us, and though they are quite suspicious and will approach and retreat repeatedly to test your intentions, if you sit very still in a bright color, they are likely to eventually draw near to see if your t-shirt is potentially delicious.

Bee Balm is a particular favorite - for them, because each blossom holds a dozen nectar tubes in one neat bundle, for me, because it stops them in one place just a moment longer as they work their entire way around.

They hum through the canopy, visiting all of the apple blossoms. When my kids were in their tree-climbing phase, the hummingbirds would settle in the branches right next to them, at ease in a way that is never quite achieved at ground level. It would seem that if you can venture into the treetops, they will accept you as one of their own.

And they also visit farm flowers, sometimes to a surprising degree. I mean, berry blossoms and squash blossoms and chive blossoms seem like big, bright obvious choices. But the tiny bell-shaped blossoms nestled in the ferny asparagus fronds? Yes, amazingly. Bean blossoms? Apparently so! It would seem that, in a banquet of choices from farm, forest, and field, literally any bloom will do.

They drink from unexpected surfaces. Imagine, at that size, a single droplet on a clover leaf is a tall drink of water. I often see them sipping dew left around the edges of the feeder on an early morning. This year, for the first time ever, I watched a female hummingbird drink from the rain streaming down the trunk of a maple tree. During the same storm system that delivered the delightful privilege of watching the male take a rain-bath!

Their motions are so quick, so entirely a blur, that it’s a real treat to freeze a frame and see just what they were up to as they streaked across your field of vision.

It’s incredible, really, the range of motion those little wings cycle through in order to execute such agile maneuvers and tight turns.

And then, of course, there’s that ruby throat. Their entire plumage is stunning in emerald and sapphire iridescence, but the males have a little something extra to display. A flash of brilliance, mostly tucked away most of the time, in what would appear to be a very formal dark hood.

Until a quick movement flashes ruby.

But also, gold!

When the light is just right, and the angle is just right, and you’re taking a stream of rapid-fire photos, you might catch a flash of gold that you never would have known existed, otherwise.

Every wild creature is profoundly connected to the invisible energies of life on earth. But hummingbirds, more than most, epitomize the bright urgency that springs from the realization that time is ever short, beauty intensified in the shimmering wake of their swift passage.

Every year, I get to know them just a little bit better…And every year, I realize there is a lifetime of discovery yet to treasure!

Hummingbird Silhouette Tees are now available in lots of fun colors at Nature Moments Gear!

There’s also a new color-change mug that I’m very excited about! The Hummingbird Silhouettes are revealed as you pour your hot drink…

Split Second is available in my print gallery, in a wide selection of wall art options and custom-print products. I think it would make a beautiful mug for your favorite morning beverage - and a very sweet moment of connection as a notebook or greeting card.