Humming Blog |
Humming Blog |
![]() While recording hummingbird sightings, I've been paying close attention to how the migration compares to last year. Even though some people are saying the hummingbirds are much earlier than last year, the overall trend and comparison to 2021 is very similar. I think people are starting to understand a lot more now that getting your feeders out early makes it a lot more likely that they'll see an early male, and this is the key to much greater success. A number of people have it set in their mind that a certain date each year is when the hummingbirds will return, so they place out feeders at that time and then say the hummingbirds arrived on schedule. The fact is that some males are passing through well before the rest and pass through many yards that are absent of nectar. The reason I bring this up is that people throughout different regions of the United States have often times told me that hummingbirds show up in early to mid May in their region. I know for a fact the hummingbirds are well before that, not only by the migration maps that show them scattered across the country, but the fact that we get them in Alberta, Canada in mid-May, and thousands of hummingbirds have to pass through every region of the eastern half of the United States in order to get to our place. I mention this all so that people will increase their chances of seeing hummingbirds, increase their chance of having a male set up territory in their garden, and increase their overall population for that season and years to come. The male hummingbirds always have a lead on the females by a few days all the way up to a few weeks, so if you're waiting to see a hummingbird or thinking your normal time is what you think it is, there is a great possibility that hummingbirds are already in and around your region for several days or even weeks before you place out your feeders. Where I live, the arrival of the very first male Ruby throat hummingbirds is fairly consistent, as over the years the earliest hummingbird I've seen is May 13th and the latest first arrival was May 23rd. This gives a variance of 10 days at the most, but in Eastern Canada there have been first sightings as early as late March, and first sightings as late as May 1st. This gives a range of nearly 5 weeks difference. Even though other factors play a dominant role in when hummingbirds migrate, weather plays a major role on their Northern migration as well. If Flowers aren't blooming in your region because of a cold Spring, food will be very sparse, and greatly affecting their movement. The cold temperature itself has less of effect on them because they have a mechanism that helps them cope with these temperatures for lengthy periods of time. The problem lies with the lack of food available, because flowers and insects are also very reliant on good weather and temperatures. As a matter of fact we've had hummingbirds of different species in Alberta, late in the season when temperatures have dipped to minus 20 Celsius. The hummingbirds have survived through this because people have continued to provide nectar. The real problem has been the lack of insects that provide the protein. I only mention this so that those thinking the temperature is too cool for hummingbirds to arrive, understand the hummingbirds are far more resilient than we know. The males that are passing through are risking to the peak of their tolerance in order to get to a territory where they can dominate and retain breeding rights for that territory.
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