Hummingbirds II

About a week ago "my" first flock of Canadian geese came honking over the house and splashed into my creek for an overnight stay on their way south -- a harbinger of the fall season.  The next morning I noticed that two or three of my hummingbirds had also disappeared -- presumably on their way south.  I've still got two hummingbirds hanging around, but the rambunctious, playful behavior that has characterized the birds for most of the summer is gone as well.  Perhaps the hummingbirds still here are the older, more staid birds, that came up from the south this spring and parented the several that hatched in the early summer, while the younger birds -- anxious for their first trip beyond Hollywood -- left a little early.  Or maybe the older birds are the ones that took off knowing the strenuous nature of their flight to Central or South America and the younger birds, motivated by instinct, have gotten serious about fattening up for the day their genes instruct them to get moving south and found that their playful "dog fights" and strafing displays consume too many calories.  I wish I had the knowledge and eye-sight to recognize individual hummingbirds, but I know that few people do.

Soft Landing

In any case, the two birds that are still using my feeders will be taking off any day now.  I wish my birds well as they begin their long flight.  I understand that their route south gets them to the Gulf Coast where they follow the coast line down through Texas and into Mexico.  Over the years they've learned that this is hurricane season and a straight flight over the Gulf is too dangerous to attempt.  In the spring, however, many do make non-stop flights over the Gulf coming north, instinctively, genetically knowing that the risk in the spring is considerably less.

I'll keep my hummingbird feeders up for another month or so in case birds starting their migration from more northern summer homes need them for some quick calories along their route south.  And I look forward to the day in the spring when my same birds return to pester and remind me to put the feeders back up.

Fly safe!