Hummingbird feeders are busy during spring migration!
Most scientists believe that the lengthening of daylight hours triggers the journey north, and evidence exists that hummingbirds follow a different route in the spring versus the fall. While they follow the Texas coast south in the fall, presumably to avoid hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, in the spring they travel north hundreds of miles non-stop directly over the gulf’s calmer waters.
Hummingbird feeders, filled with a clear solution (no red dye) of one-part white table sugar to four-parts water, should be placed out in early March. Records show that the migrating hummers start arriving in our area at that time. While these migrants can include more northern species that are just passing through, they mainly include the arrival of species that breed in our area, such as the Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris).
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| Black-chinned Hummingbird, male |
Measuring a mere three and one-half inches long with a three and three-quarter-inch wing span, the Black-chinned hummingbird weighs only three to three and one-half grams, which is about equivalent to the weight of a dime plus a dollar bill. The male is dull metallic green above, gray below, black on the chin and upper throat, with an iridescent violet lower throat known as a gorget (pronounced gore-jet). The female lacks the characteristic coloring on the chin, upper throat, and lower throat. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are also only about three and one-half inches long with the adult male having a black upper chin and ruby-red gorget, and they are a more eastern species with Austin being the westernmost border of their range.
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| Ruby-throated Hummingbird, male |
Like all hummingbirds, nectar serves as a main food source, fueling the tiny bird’s extreme metabolism. These hummingbirds feed on several species of blooming plants, most notably native penstemons, agaves, salvias, sages, and honeysuckles. While artificial feeders supplement their diet, they also prey on insects and spiders, particularly during nesting season, which gives them the dietary fat and protein necessary to breed.
The hummingbird’s unique skeletal structure allows them to fly forwards, backwards, sideways, and even on their backs! This requires a wingbeat frequency of about 50 beats per second, and massive muscles that make up a third of their tiny body weight. While the males perform an elaborate flight display during courtship, no pair bond is formed between the males and females. Females build the tiny nest (out of spider webs, mosses, and various plant fibers), incubate the eggs, and raise the young, while the males are feeding and off chasing other females. This is unusual among birds as a whole, since this class of animals exhibits the greatest amount of monogamy among vertebrates (animals with a backbone or spinal column).
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| Rufous Hummingbird. male |
While most hummingbird species have moved out of our area by late October, be sure to leave a feeder out for stragglers and northern species that may spend the winter in your yard. The most common overwintering species is the Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), but you can sometimes get a wayward winter visitor such as a Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris), a rare species in our area that arrived on our back porch feeder on September 11, 2021 and is still with us!
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| Broad-billed Hummingbird, male |
