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Hummingbirds Return to Minnesota
Nature Notes by Jim Gilbert
With a length of only 3 inches from tip of the bill to tip of the tail, the ruby-throated hummingbird is the smallest of our Minnesota birds. Its plumage is metallic green above and white below. Only the adult males have the iridescent ruby-red throat.
Most of the 300-plus hummingbird species live in the American tropics. Of the more than 20 hummingbird species in North America, only the ruby-throat is regularly found in the eastern half. Its breeding range extends into the lower parts of southern and central Canada and includes all of the eastern states south to Florida and Texas. The ruby-throat is a strong flyer for its small size, traveling considerable distances over land and water, even crossing the Gulf of Mexico to reach its wintering grounds. Most winter from southern Mexico to Costa Rica and Panama, although a few remain stateside along the Gulf.
Making Your Place Inviting to Hummingbirds, Orioles
The colorful spring air show is back.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds are back to buzzing backyard bird feeders, and orioles are chattering in the trees overhead.
“They are very different birds, but are attracted to feeders in somewhat the same way,” says Wade Kammin, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Springfield, Ill.
Nectar Makes Hummingbirds at Home in Odessa Garden
My husband, Jay, recently returned from our neighbor’s and announced hummingbirds were zooming around their place.
“If there, then here,” I remarked.
We’ve lived at our place for 34 years, and while we have a variety of critters at our rural Odessa home, we’d never seen hummingbirds. I’ve long been intrigued by the unique little fellows but sort of figured they were more suited to other climates, like North Carolina, where we have enjoyed their antics many times, hovering around an outdoor porch during the summer.
I trotted out and bought a hummingbird feeder, heeding the advice of my sister in Indiana — who has dozens of hummingbirds at her place — that the feeder should be red, since the tiny little birds seem to favor that color. I mixed a batch of nectar: one part granulated sugar to two parts water, heated it until dissolved, let it cool completely and poured a cup in the feeder. On Saturday, I hung the feeder off our deck near large pots of rose colored impatiens, having read hummingbirds are drawn to brightly colored flowers.
