Distinguished VisitorsOriginally posted Aug 28, 2012 I love hummingbirds. A lot of that is probably due to memories of them when I used to visit Arapaho Ranch, in the Colorado Front Range, every August. It was really only at night that you could not listen and hear the distinctive sound of their flight. We’d always put up a feeder upon our arrival at the Ranch, and they would be visiting it within minutes. And if the nectar in it got a little low, they’d let you know that by buzzing you, if you happened to be sitting on the porch contemplating Middle Boulder Creek. Something that we did a lot of at Arapaho.
While their presence here does not even begin to amount to what it is in the Rockies, hummingbirds do migrate through Nebraska, and some actually nest here. The peak times to find them attracted to backyard feeders – whether just passing through or hanging around for the summer – is the first half of May and the first half of September. Armed with that information, I had for several Augusts and Septembers been hanging up a feeder in my backyard to absolutely no result. In time, I realized that the experts are right in advising that the nectar be changed and the feeder rinsed out once a week. I fully realized this three summers ago when I saw a hummingbird streak through my yard, stick its nose very briefly in the feeder and scurry away like it was on after-burner, obviously not caring for the fare being offered. (Come to think of it, that was a fourth siting over the years, but it hardly counts.) Adopting the practice of weekly washings, I finally scored the first hummingbird coming to my feeder last September, although it was just that one day. I had my feeder out through this past May but failed to observe any hummingbirds in my yard or vicinity. When the birdseed store reported earlier this month that the rapid little creatures were visiting feeders in south Lincoln, I thought, “So what am I – chopped liver?” but vowed not to give up and to keep my feeder up and fresh through September if that’s what it took. I also added a second feeder, just in case there is some hidden bird flaw in the first one. So imagine my delight when, returned from a bike ride late yesterday afternoon, I saw a hummingbird dipping its beak in my new feeder. I hustled my camera and oh-my-god telephoto lens upstairs and set up shop on the patio. After a few minutes, there were two of the little rockets, feeding and kind of hazing each other as well. Because the presence of other birds seemed to keep them away, I moved the seed feeders to another pole and hung both nectar feeders on their former pole. That worked, and I spent about ninety minutes watching hummingbirds come and go. And it was only August 27th! At this rate, they should be around for a while. At least that’s my hope.
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