Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Summertime Hummertime - Free Printable

They're back! 

Or at least one is back! Maybe it's the advance guard checking to see if those folks in the Keweenaw are going to feed them again this year.

You betcha, little one! Sorry that photo isn't very sharp, but I had to hastily grab my camera when we spotted this little hummer about 9:30 this morning. I was down with a migraine for the majority of the day yesterday, but I did have a few vertical moments and asked Mr. Cut Off to put out one of our hummingbird feeders late in the afternoon. We spotted our first hummer on May 19th last year, so I was hoping they would be back sometime this week.

Nothing around us is blooming yet. Our grass is still mostly brown and we even have piles of snow here and there. Isn't it amazing that a little hummingbird is able to find this one small splotch of red in the middle of miles and miles of forest? We counted over 20 at one time drinking from multiple feeders last year, so more will surely be on the way soon. By the way, if you're looking for a sturdy feeder, we've had the most luck with this model and it's one of the least expensive. It's just under $6 at Walmart - doesn't leak - easy to clean.

In anticipation of the upcoming hummingbird season, I made this printable last week.

Summertime IS hummertime!

Of course, it doesn't look just like a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, but I like the bright colors for my summer decor.

I made this printable as a 5x7, but you can always play around with the proportions a bit and print another size.

If you would like a free copy of this printable, click on the following link:

Hummingbird 5x7

We get a lot of enjoyment out of watching these busy little birds every summer. Glad to see they're on their way back!

UPDATE:  I just looked up and spotted 2 at once! Yay! (12:35 p.m. - 5/15/17)

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Hummingbird I.D.

First of all, you haven't read as much from me lately because I ran out of gigabytes on our home broadband Thursday morning. I get email alerts from Verizon, so I knew I was getting low for a week or so. I did some online shopping this past month & spent quite a bit of time comparing prices before I ordered. That used up a lot of my data allowance for the month. My plan reset overnight, so I'm now reconnected to the world!

June is the month the bugs come out in the Keweenaw. That's why we see fewer birds at our bird feeders this time of year. Luckily, the activity at the hummingbird feeder picks up at the same time, so we still have a lot happening outside our windows. I have a total of 5 hummingbird feeders out right now. The population hasn't peaked yet, but I have counted up to 6 birds at once. 2 of those were males. My mom also has a feeder and was recently asking me how to tell the difference between the male and female hummingbirds. It occurred to me that maybe some of you would also like to know the difference.

The ruby-throated hummingbirds are the ones we see in this part of the country. The next composite photo illustrates the difference between the sexes. The male is on the top; the female is on the bottom. You can see that the female has a white throat/neck. The male's throat often looks completely black.

However, as you can see in this second composite photo, the male's neck sometimes looks partly reddish-orange or completely reddish-orange.

That little devil was doing his best to attract the attention of the local females.

The next 2 shots show a female at the feeder. Again, notice her white throat/neck.

I snapped the next photo of a male through one of the feeders.

He loves to sit on top of the shepherd's hooks - sometimes looking for a mate - sometimes on guard duty protecting the feeder(s) he has claimed for himself.

Hummingbirds don't actually suck up the sugar water; they stick their long tongues into the feeders and lap it up. I snapped the following photos when Mr. Hummingbird was sitting in the rain on the shepherd's hook. I didn't realize until I reviewed the photos that he stuck his tongue out. See it?

Lastly, I have a video showing you how his ruby-throat changes. Click on the following link:

Male Hummingbird

Cool, huh? We had another cool critter sighting of a different sort yesterday. I'll be back with photos and video of that at the beginning of the week.

All is well in the Keweenaw.