If you have hummingbird feeders, get them out immediately. We have kept careful records of the first returning male Ruby-throated hummingbirds and the earliest we have observed one is May 2nd; although we have had reports of some sightings in late April.
Like most returning migrants, the male return first. The females are usually 7 to 10 days later to arrive. It is a special time of year for us because at the same time we observe Red-Breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles and about every other year Indigo Buntings. We are putting out an oriole feeder this year.
Attracting hummingbirds is quite easy. All you really need are two feeders and places to set them. Notice the word “two” feeders. The reason is that if you only have one feeder, the dominant male hummingbird will guard that feeder and drive away all others. To solve this problem, we hang one on the front porch where we can easily observe it from two locations inside the house. The other we hang just off our screened in back porch on a staff. When we increased our feeders from one to two, we more than doubled our sightings.
Feeding hummingbirds is also quite easy. You simply heat water and dissolve sugar into it; four parts water, one part sugar. Do not add any food coloring; it is not needed. We try to keep our feeders out of direct sunlight as much as possible to maintain freshness of the mixture. It is easy with the front porch feeder; it faces east and thus gets just the morning sun. The feeder near our back porch gets just some afternoon sun. You will need to refresh your feeders at least weekly, or sooner if the birds drain them. If you get wasps or hornets, simply spray the feeders, hummingbirds have no sense of smell.
It is amazing just how many visits to just one of our feeders we observe daily. Just a guess, but about 100 visits seem about right. Once you put out some feeders, you will be as hooked as we are.
Jim Collins is an outdoor writer for this newspaper. To contact him, email jimcollinsinsurance@frontiernet.net; or write to him at Outdoors With Jim Collins, 87 Windfall Road, Alba, PA 16910.