Hummingbirds Head South

This is some information my great-aunt Celeste sent me after she read my hummingbird blog a few weeks ago. Turns out, she teaches ornithology at the University of South Alabama, so we asked her about the little birds.

"Hummers have been banded and some found to live up to 8 yrs - the general scope of science agrees that on average they live 4 or 5 yrs. From coastal areas most migrate across the Gulf to the Yucatan and S. America although a few follow the coast, rather than flying across the Gulf.

In banding hummers - if I puff very gently on the breast to ruffle the feathers I see tiny globules of fat next the skin. This fat is reserve energy for the long migration flight.

You may be seeing more than the usual number of hummers because their food supply (nectar from flowers) along the coast was severely diminished by Ike - thus they remain inland instead of "staging" along the immediate coastal areas. Staging means they congregate and wait for conditions to be right, preferably a tail wind, for the long flight across the Gulf.

Hummers spend the winter where there is food supply including but not limited to nectar. Hummers also consume a large number of tiny insects.

You may know the tongue is not a straw - it is tool for "lapping" up nectar or sugar water.

I predict your numbers will be less every day and by mid-Oct most will have gone south. If you leave a feeder or two up during cold months you might get a western hummer like a Rufous or Black Chinned - but 99% of Rubies go south for the winter.

Do not put food coloring in the feeder water - 1 part sugar to 4 parts water and no coloring."

And she was right, it's mid-October now and all the hummingbirds are gone.