Feeding the neighborhood...

It's 17 degrees this morning, and the "wet side" is pretty darn dry and cold and white. Yesterday I was up before the dawn, in time to watch the snow fall. And all day long, I watched the temperatures fall steadily, from 33 at 7:00 a.m. to 22 when I headed for bed at 10:00.

All morning yesterday, two little hummingbirds flew back and forth, from the bushes to the porch, trying to get at every last bit of food in the bottom of the feeders.

I didn't know that we have one type of hummingbird that doesn't fly south for the winter. They like to stick around and enjoy our (usually) mild winter, feeding off the nectar so many people happily provide. But I wonder how many leave their feeders out this late?

So I hauled out the stepstool and took the feeders down, one at a time. When I reached for the last feeder, the little male was there instantly, a foot from my face, chirping, wings whirring. Was he worried that his food was going away? Or was he excited that someone was bringing him a fresh supply of food? I hope so.

This morning I got up early, and hung one of the feeders before dawn, before the birds woke up and needed food. And I'll be swapping feeders throughout the day, hanging a fresh one and bringing in the other when it starts to freeze. And hope that it's enough to keep these little birds alive until our days begin to warm up just a bit.

I grinned when I saw the pair of birds sitting on the feeder an hour later, and laughed out loud when a third hummingbird swooped in for his turn. I'm pretty sure this guy missed the memo about heading south... Rufous hummingbirds aren't ones to overwinter here. It may cause an endless battle over the feeder, too. I've seen both males chasing around, but not actually sitting down to eat. Silly males!