Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds | Fall Migration

We’ve been seeing the hummingbirds here and there all summer but September is their big month, the month they start heavily flying back through before they make their way back for central America to spend the winter.

They stop here to feast before making the long flight over the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of bird interested folks like to ply them with sugar water to help them with energy before they are gone for the winter.

I finally put two feeders up last week but my neighbor down the street had his 10+ feeders up for a week or two before that. At the height of the season there are dozens of birds flocking to his feeders. It’s a crazy sight to see!

I went out of town over the weekend and on Friday night as I was getting ready I emptied the feeders because they had already been up for a few days and to avoid growing bacteria in the water I either needed to empty it out or refill it with fresh food. I didn’t think I had time to refill them so I drained them. As I was washing them out two birds came over to where they had been hanging and hovered for a few seconds as if to say “Where’s our food?” Needless to say I refilled one for them. Silly birds, making me feel guilty!

Last night I was sitting out about three feet from the feeder working on something else on the porch and a couple of birds came by. I think I’ll try taking a couple of closer photos of them sometime this week.