The hummingbirds are back!

[Ponietz]

I was on the phone with a friend telling him how I put the feeder up early to be ready for their arrival and viola!, right on cue, a mature male zooms into view, lands, and dips his beak! Bienvenidos amiguitos!

[wnylib]

1. The first time I saw a hummingbird, it scared me.

I was about 8 or 9 years s old, alone in our back yard. We had a lot of flowers. I was used to seeing and hearing bees around the flowers and kept a respectful distance from them.

Then I heard a loud buzzing, as if from a swarm of bees. I looked around and saw a HUGE bee buzzing and hovering over a flower. Terrified of such a large bee with a long stinger on its face, I ran inside to tell my mother about it.

She laughed and said it sounded like a hummingbird. She explained that they are small birds and the buzzing sound came from batting their wings rapidly in order to stay steady over flowers to get nectar using their long narrow beak, which is not a stinger.

I felt foolish then for being so afraid of it.

[RainCaster]

2. I have hummers that stay all Winter

The ones that stay year round are called "Anna's", and they have green backs. The ones that migrate through in spring have an orange - brown back and they're called "Rufous". Tough little birds, they migrate from SoCal/Mexico to Alaska.

[AllaN01Bear]

3. yay. i love hummers.

[mnhtnbb]

4. My feeders have been up a week

here in NC. The earliest I've ever seen one is April 1st, no foolin'. I put out fresh juice last night. I always look forward to their return. Any day now!

[10 Turtle Day]

5. Thanks for the reminder to get my feeder up.

I usually put it up around April 1.

[GiqueCee]

6. The hummers' schedule is a little later...

... up here in central Vermont, but we're ready for 'em! They'll be plenty hungry, and there aren't enough flowers in bloom yet to sustain them. There may be a few bugs for 'em to snack on, though.

[niyad]

7. yayyyyyyy! I thought I saw a hummer the other day, though very early.

One of my neighbors put her feeder out yesterday, a reminder to put mine out.