Hummingbirds are back!

On Sunday May 6th I received a notification from 'Wild Birds Unlimited' that hummingbirds were back in Maine. I immediately unpacked our hummingbird feeder, gave it a quick wash, and made a 1:4 solution of sugar and water. The hummingbird feeder is stuck to a window in our living room. On Monday morning, my 5 year old woke me up (at 5:30 am, I'd like to add) shouting, "HUMMINGBIRD! HUMMINGBIRD!" I missed it! My husband saw it later that morning; I missed it again. I was starting to wonder if they made it up to make me happy, and was vocalizing this as a hummingbird visited the feeder! Again my little guy astounded me with his observation, "It's a female hummingbird, Mommy."

There are two hummingbird species seen in Maine:
Ruby Throated Hummingbird It's easy to identify if the bird in question is a male by their unmistakable by their ruby red throat, forked tail and emerald green back. The female is emerald green with a white throat.

Rufous Hummingbird The male Rufous Hummingbird is identified by its rufous colored crown, tail and sides along with its bright orange-red throat and white breast. The female counterpart is nowhere near as colorful, and not a bright emerald green like the female Ruby throated hummingbird.


So Owen was right when he identified our little visitor as a female--she had no red coloration at her throat. We find that the hummingbirds use the feeder often all summer and into September. Right now, they sip from the feeder, dart into our lilac bush next to the window (where we can often watch them sit on a branch), and then they come back to the feeder.  We have also witnessed many hummingbirds visiting our apple tree blossoms.