Happy Fourth. Outdoor barbecues, watermelon cuttings and fireworks will be the order of the day as families gather this weekend to celebrate America’s most patriotic holiday.
For hummingbird enthusiasts, July 4 has another significance — the rule-of-thumb date when ruby-throated hummingbirds start returning in high numbers to backyard feeders after a seeming absence of nearly two months.
The summer solstice — and the year’s longest day — is two weeks behind us, and the days now are getting shorter. The change may be imperceptible to us, but for hummingbirds, the waning daylight is a compelling cue to prepare for migration to winter homes in Mexico and Central America.
As such, a powerful urge now takes hold in the tiny birds — to quickly fatten up by almost twice their body mass. The added girth will be the fuel that powers their arduous southbound migration to their winter grounds.
For most of Georgia’s ruby-throated hummingbirds, that journey will include a 500-mile, nonstop leg across the Gulf of Mexico.
The migrating hummingbirds’ need for high-energy fuel is why they’ll be returning to our nectar-filled feeders from now through September. Their reappearance should dispel concerns among many homeowners who’ve been asking during the past two months: “Where are the hummingbirds?”
In March and April, swarms of hungry hummingbirds were showing up at feeders in Georgia and elsewhere as they returned to North America for their breeding season. Around May, though, the birds seemed to become scarce at feeders as they settled down to nest and as wild food became abundant. (In addition to nectar from flowers and feeders, the birds also eat small insects, beetles, ants, aphids, gnats, mosquitoes and wasps.)
Now, with the nesting season nearly over and the urge to migrate coming on strong, hummingbirds once again will be hungry for feeder nectar. So, if you haven’t seen many hummingbirds of late, I say give it time. They’ll start returning any day now.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be new on Friday, July 9. Mercury is low in the east just before sunrise and will appear near the moon Thursday morning. Venus and Mars are low in the west just after dark; Mars will appear near the moon Sunday evening. Jupiter and Saturn rise in the east after midnight.
Charles Seabrook can be reached at charles.seabrook@yahoo.com.
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