Date: 10/06/2021

Number: 3

At the start of the day, we had our three that I've been reporting for the last couple of weeks, our two remaining resident juveniles (one female and one male), as well as what I suspect a traveler, who has been with us for about a week.

Sometime between mid-morning and early afternoon, it does appear that our two juveniles left for their journey. It is usually very easy to find them as they both have their favorite perches and feeders. I also didn't see them eating at their respective feeders at dusk this evening. The traveler, who appears to be a juvenile female, is still with us, as I spotted her multiple times throughout the afternoon and evening. I will definitely spend some time tomorrow morning to see if I can verify if our two juveniles did leave or not. I'm feeling fairly certain that they did.

Tomorrow, the 7th, marks a full month ago that our adult resident male left. After he left, the others left in waves. These two juveniles that appear to have left were definitely both from 2nd nests this summer. A month ago, they were both still very little, but worked hard since then to bulk up and get strong.

Both of these two became very special to me, as they actively tried to get to know me once all the others left. The little male, Sprite, is a spunky little fellow and is definitely already owning the fact that he is a male hummingbird. I loved to watch his personality develop.

The little female, Little Gem, is a beautiful little girl. She was really tiny for awhile there and was bullied by all the others when she was a new fledgling. For weeks, she would hide up in a Japanese maple and would sneak to one of the feeders. Once the others left, she slowly "came out of her shell". She grew to trust me and became very comfortable around me and would seek me out when I was outside. She hung out with me on the patio and would perch very close by on a branch of a mock orange. She would just sit and watch me and she loved to tend to her flowers all around the patio and on the patio. I would talk to her and she would fluff her feathers and stretch to let me know she was very comfortable.

Needless to say, although I knew this day was coming, I've been looking forward to it and dreading it with equal measure. I have been hopeful that they would start their journey soon so that they wouldn't have travel problems finding insects, flowers, and clean feeders, as well as good weather. Yet, I knew how much I would instantly miss them. Every day during my toddler's naptime, I would sit outside with them and I really looked forward to it.

I will pray for all my hummers each day, as well as the hummers in general, and I look forward to when they will return to me in the Spring. They are such amazing parts of God's creation and have been such a special blessing to me.

In the meanwhile, I'll definitely keep swapping out my feeders for fresh ones every couple of days for this little traveler we currently have, as well as any who might venture through our neck of the woods along the way. This particular traveler is definitely on the small side herself, so I hope she will be able to bulk up pretty quickly now that it seems like she has the place to herself. My feeders will stay out until mid November or so, just in case there are any late stragglers coming from up north. I've noticed that there are still hummers way up north. They will need lots of feeders ready for them along the way. And I hope and pray lots of kind folks south of me have fresh, clean feeders out for my sweet crew. Thanks to all of you who do so. Godspeed my little hummers.

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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