Where are the hummingbirds?

It's a question that we hear from a lot of folks this time of year. Mid-July is when traffic at backyard hummingbird feeders normally starts picking up. With their nesting seasons wrapped up, the tiny birds begin showing up at the feeders to gorge on nectar and double their body masses. The extra heft provides crucial energy for their perilous journeys back to winter grounds in Mexico and Central America.

So, when the birds fail to show up at feeders this time of year, folks understandably get a little nervous. This year, there seems to be a lot more folks than usual worried about missing hummingbirds.

Jim Walston of Smyrna, for instance, writes that he has had only three hummingbirds at his three feeders this year. "They left quickly and never came back," he said. "I've lived here for 39 years and I used to have many hummingbirds at this time each year. I really miss them."

Others express similar concern.

"My customers are concerned again this summer that they are seeing fewer — sometimes far fewer — hummingbirds than normal," said Tim Striker of the Blue Ridge Bird Seed Company in Blue Ridge.

Actually, across the state, there are plenty of hummingbirds. Hal Massie, who lives in Musella near Macon, wrote last week on Georgia birders' chat line that hummingbird numbers in his area appear above normal.

"I'm refilling my 3 feeders every day, sometimes twice a day," he wrote. "My wife is almost scared to walk out the front door because she has been 'buzzed' so many times by hummers."

Why hummingbirds bypass a feeder — or regularly visit one — in any given year may be due to several factors. If they are not coming to your backyard, it could be that they simply have found the food more desirable at a neighbor's yard only a block away.

Another reason is that a lot of wild food is still available and the birds may prefer it over sugary water in feeders. For instance, one of the birds' favorite nectar sources, trumpet creeper, is very tolerant of drought and is in flower now. And although hummingbirds primarily are nectar feeders, they also obtain much nourishment from small insects.

If you don't have hummingbirds at your feeders now, give it another couple of weeks. Chances are they'll be back.

In the sky: The moon will be new on Wednesday. By dusk on Thursday, look for a thin crescent low in the west, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus and Jupiter are low in the east just before sunrise. They will appear near the moon on Sunday morning. Mars is high in the west just after dark and sets in the west before midnight. Saturn is high in the south at dark and sets in the west around midnight.