Caught this image a week or so ago and posted it to my Facebook page (search Of the Wing). At the time, I noticed only the iridescent green back of one hummer--not the female facing me. Isn't it amazing how the mind can sometimes block what is plainly in view? You see what you expect to see, I suppose.
These Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are still here but not for long. Any day they will begin their migration south, most to Central America but the old and young, who can't manage the trans-gulf crossing will stay on the coast. I just learned this fact and a few others from an informative site, which also stresses that hummingbirds are carnivores who depend on insects to survive. Nectar (which I had always presumed to be their main food source) is "just the fuel to power their flycatching activity." Read this and more fascinating information at hummingbirds.net (specific page link below):
http://www.hummingbirds.net/migration.html
Though the fall season is my favorite (after spring), I'm always saddened to see these marvels of flight go. They seem to me too precious for the "real" world, as if somehow they escaped from some fairy realm, where only beautiful creatures exist. Oh well . . . they'll be back soon enough.
Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart . . . and sugar water in your feeder, while the hummers are still here.
Georgia Anne Butler
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