The Hummers Knew Summer Was Over

OCTOBER 9, 2005
By GREGORY J. RUMMO

...at our home, almost as if on cue, three little friends that had visited our backyard all summer long suddenly stopped coming. And I knew that summer had ended and the fall was here.          

           Eighteen days ago summer melted into autumn and most of us hardly noticed. But now the passage of a cold front last week has finally made autumn a reality. In another few days, the leaves will be dressed in their peak colors, erasing any lingering doubts. And then in the weeks that follow, they will release their grasp, falling softly from lofty perches and all the landscape will take on a gray and sepia-stained pallor for the next six months until the cycle of life begins again in the spring.

            Meteorologically speaking, autumn’s arrival did slip by us. If it hadn’t been an actual date on the calendar; announced on the radio and printed in the newspapers, no one would have paid it any heed. But at our home, almost as if on cue, three little friends that had visited our backyard all summer long suddenly stopped coming. And I knew that summer had ended and the fall was here.

            A family of hummingbirds decided that our backyard would be their place of refuge this year.

            It all started years ago, sometime during the winter when a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird began its long journey northward, leaving the rain forests of southern Mexico, Costa Rica or as far south as northern Panama.

            It feasted on insects along the way, building up stores of body fat for the long migration northward which may have included a non-stop 500-mile flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Finally arriving in New Jersey, exhausted from its long flight, it spied what it thought was a bright red nectar-bearing flower.

            It was my hummingbird feeder, hanging on our deck which overlooks our backyard.

            He drank deeply, unaware of the artificiality of the flower upon which he perched, nonetheless, thankful for a source of energy-rich nectar that supplied his tired little body with the strength he would need for the days ahead.

            About two weeks later his mate arrived and together, they took turns visiting the feeder.

            They disappeared for several weeks to raise a family. The male made infrequent visits, coming only early in the morning and at dusk to feed. But then in August their regular visits resumed, along with a third immature hummer. They were coming so often it seemed there was always a hummingbird at the feeder.

            They were careful to take turns—at no time was there ever more than one hummingbird feeding. But they were not polite about it if one happened to show up before another was finished. They would face off, hovering in the air, daring the other for feeding rights. Eventually one always relented.

            “The males chase the females and the females chase the immature hummers,” says Ira Grindlinger, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Paramus. Grindlinger explains that this year was an especially good year for hummingbirds putting in appearances at feeders due to the hot and dry weather which prevented many nectar-containing wild flowers from blooming.

            It’s been over two weeks since I’ve seen any of my little feathered friends but I just can’t bring myself to take down the feeder for the last time this year.

            I am hoping that there may be a straggler or two that needs one last long sweet sip to help it on its long journey south to the rain forests of Mexico and Central America until next year when this cycle of life begins anew. n