Date: 03/26/2023

Number: 1

It appears that our radiant Raphy, a first year male Rufous hummingbird, has departed on his first Spring migration journey back to where he was born last summer. We have been away on vacation since last Sunday, the 19th, and returned today, the 26th. Two birding friends of ours came by while we were away to monitor Raphy. The last he was seen was Friday afternoon, the 24th, zooming around chasing bugs and nectaring from early Spring blooms. Our friends were very excited to report that Raphy was sporting his full adult plumage, gorget and all! One of our friends returned yesterday afternoon, the 25th, and looked for Raphy for 2 hours and didn't see him. Since our return home, I also have not spotted him nor heard him. I'm thinking he must have fueled up yesterday morning, the 25th, and then taken off. We had a cold snap here at the beginning of the week, with temps dipping back down into the 20s at night. The last few days, however, warmed up significantly, with temps hitting the 70s and even 80s during the day. Perhaps, that helped prompt his departure. I will, of course, continue to look for him, starting first thing tomorrow morning.

I would have loved to have seen him in full adult plumage, especially with his gorgeous gorget and I was kind of hoping that he would still be here when we returned. However, I also knew that he needed to get going whenever that instinct kicked in, as he has a long ways to go!

It has been an incredible 5 months hosting him. When he first arrived in late October, I thought he would just be here for a matter of a few days or weeks and that he was surely on his way to the coast for the winter. Then, weeks later, when the last of our flowers were killed off by an early NC hard freeze, I thought for sure he would be heading out. I then began to worry a bit about a hummingbird of any species overwintering in this part of NC.

I was so relieved and thankful to see him at one of his heated feeders first thing, before 7am, Christmas Eve morning, when it was 4 degrees! After that, I knew he was Rufous resilient and going to be ok.

He definitely has captured our hearts. Our daughter was really hoping he would stay until her 4th birthday in April, but I told her that he had to be on his way so that he could go and become a Daddy hummingbird. She said she understands. I've also told her that our Rubies are on their way and it would probably not be good for them to both be here at the same time. Interestingly, Raphy showed up about a week after our last sweet juvenile female Ruby headed out in October. And our adult male Rubies will be arriving within the next couple of weeks. We'll start seeing the first travelers fueling up and passing through any time now.

We are praying for our sweet, spunky, little guy and we are hopeful that he'll return to us this fall. Godspeed, Radiant Raphy!

*The attached photo was taken nearly 2 weeks ago. You can see all those pin feathers on his throat, very close to unfurling!

[Altered quantity field from 0 to 1 by Journey North, 03/27/2023]

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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