Today it happened! A favorite day of the year when the first hummingbird arrives. As is the custom of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) the male leaves first, from his winter home, to arrive here at my cabin in the wood, mid-April. Females will arrive a week to ten days later. I’m looking forward to their arrivals when mating can begin and nest building will get underway. It is the female that selects the site, gathers all her building materials and creates her nest. And she may have two broods during the season, sometimes reusing her first nest. I’ll be searching in all the trees in the area. Looking for the tiny nests. Try as I might I’ve not spotted one yet.

Generally two eggs are laid in the nest. Incubation and feeding of the nestlings is left entirely to the female. It takes between fifteen and eighteen days for the eggs to hatch. Mom feeds her nestlings small insects and nectar. Nestlings fledge in eighteen to twenty-eight days. Then – will the feeders ever be busy!

I’m looking forward to seeing the hijinks of all the hummingbirds. The best action takes place when there are oodles of them. I’m never able to get a count of the hummingbirds that are here but have counted easily fifteen at any one time at the feeders. Surely there are others off in the gardens enjoying the plants that I have specifically put in for them. So it’s hard to know exactly what the population is during their summer with me. I’ll just leave that number at oodles.

The hummingbirds are so entertaining, racing round and round the cabin, chasing each other. It makes me feel as though I’m riding on a carousel. In addition I can’t wait to see the antics of my family as they enjoy the hummingbirds!

A summer with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Pure glee.