With the turn of the seasons comes many changes — pollen filters through the air like thick dust, fireflies begin to dot the night sky like stars, and hummingbirds flit and flutter through backyards like summer personified. But it’s not just natural tides that turn every spring. Before hummingbirds and fireflies hang against the sky’s backdrop, graduation caps will fly and some human nests will become a little emptier as so many begin their first wobbly steps into adulthood.
For those of preparing for both, Lorraine Tuck — a hummingbird expert of over forty years from the Orange County Master Gardeners — has you covered.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Northeast Region, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Come when you’re ready, leave when you’re ready. Your time is the right time.
Each year, like clockwork as spring turns to summer, hummingbirds fly north from Central America and Mexico to the Southern United States
“The beginning of the season is about the time the azaleas bloom,” Tuck said. “When you see the azaleas begin to bloom in the spring, usually around March and April, this is a general sign of the last frost of the season. When these beautiful flowers pop up, you know it’s time to get your first feeder of the season out! The same goes for you. There is no such thing as too early or too late. When the time is right, you’ll know it!”
Quality over quantity extends into the natural world, too. It’s not what you have, it’s how you use it.
According to Tuck, one of the biggest mistakes people make is having too many feeders at the beginning of the season to try and attract the birds. Thankfully, the Chapel Hill area is the perfect place for hummingbirds to call home for the summer.
“We have a beautiful access for hummingbirds,” Tuck said. “We live right off the edge of the woods with plenty of limbs and twigs and places for hummingbirds to sit and perch and build nests and it’s not in the full sun.”
With the perfect environment to start, a good rule of thumb to begin your birding journey is to start with one feeder and then the more birds you see, the more feeders you can add. Start with one traditional red hummingbird feeder with one part sugar, four parts water as the food — do not add red dye!
What’s mine is yours… Sometimes. Prioritize yourself, no matter where you go, you have to take yourself with you.
Even though it’s best to start with only one feeder, hummingbirds are extremely territorial! This is why it’s important to increase your number of feeders as birds increase, they do not want to share. This is why you’ll often see hummingbirds dive bombing and chasing each other away from feeders, Tuck says. We can take a few pointers from our winged friends… in a world of limited resources, it’s okay, and even necessary, to prioritize your own wants and needs. Get your own feeder!
Make sure you clean your feeders out regularly! It is easy for the sugar water to mold inside the feeders – Tuck recommends cleaning them with baby bottle brushes!
Small but mighty is a real phenomenon, but the circle of life doesn’t discriminate. It’s okay for roots to wait, now is the time to keep moving.
Hummingbirds are famously tiny little creatures. They buzz around quickly and seem to never quite sit still, always beating their tiny wings as fast as they will go. But even as beautiful as they are, and as quick, they often fall prey to nature’s most infamous predators.
Owls are just one example of a known predator of hummingbirds and the evidence is often found in their pellets.
“I found one, one day, and I dissected it, as I did with my students when I was a fifth grade teacher,” she said. “There was a hummingbird beak in it! It’s sad!”
Even in the early morning, owls will swoop down to catch a hummingbird in their claws, proving again how important it is that they stick to their quick and fluttery nature. Young people emerging into adulthood are no different. It’s okay to be far from settled, that’s what you’re supposed to be doing! Keep moving, you’ll find a place to plant your roots at the perfect moment and not a second sooner.
Consistency is key — and will be rewarded.
One of Tuck’s most important tips is simple – stay consistent. If you feed them and keep your feeders clean, the hummingbirds will come back year after year at the start of each season!
“They’ll come to the windows to look for you,” she said, noting this is how her own collection of hummingbirds every summer got so big. “They remember!”
In life and in birds, keep going. When you’re consistently good, consistently kind, and consistently present, people remember! They’ll come back, looking just for you.
Webs will come. Grab a friend, brush off your wings, and fly on.
Tuck has been caring for hummingbirds for over forty years, but one moment in particular stands out as one of her favorites.
“We had a huge spider web back here and a hummingbird had gotten caught up in this web,” Tuck said. “It was all tangled up in the web and what attracted me was that there was another hummingbird that was staring at this web and I hadn’t noticed that there was another hummingbird caught in the web!”
Her husband, another avid gardener who is an expert in bees and chickens, joined her rescue mission as they carefully retrieved the bird from the web.
“We carefully took a toothbrush and brushed off the web. We put the hummingbird on the deck and at first she just kind of flopped around, which meant of course that there was still webbing on her wings. So we picked her back up, brushed her off again, set her back down on the deck, and off she went!”
Webs happen. You won’t always stumble across two friendly strangers to untangle your wings for you, but when you’re lucky, you’ll find just that. As the Chapel Hill community steps into the sun of summer and welcomes May with open arms (and as local parents hold their new graduates a little tighter), know the webs will come, and the bloom of azaleas will, too. Take it in flight – they’re coming either way.
Susan Young, Flickr, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
