Date: 06/30/2023

Number: 6

I'm stilll observing 3 adult resident males and many adult females. When the females attempt to feed from any of the flowers, the males dive at them and immediately begin their U shaped mating flights. The 3 adult males have claimed 3 distinct sections of our property. The alpha, Sparky, who is back with us for his 3rd summer(showed up as an adult male in 2021), perches on top of one of the cherry trees in our front yard and has a good view of the entire front yard. The front yard is full of hummingbird plants. There are 3 feeders that he has access to. He is constantly scanning for other hummingbirds. I'm seeing at least one nesting mama visit the feeders and flowers up front. Our house is quite tall and so the back yard/ portion of our property really is like another world and the 2 other resident adult males have divided it up into 2 territories. Sprite, who is back for his 3rd year as well(was born here 3 years ago), reclaimed his corner of the back of our property and has his own nectar garden with a decent number of nectaring flowers, as well as 2 feeders. I'm seeing at least 2 adult females in Sprite's "gardens" and at the feeders. And finally, we've got Maverick, who was just a juvenile male last summer. He spent several months after fledging last summer dominating the other half of our back yard, which consists of a large patio, full of nectaring plants, and a woodland garden with nectaring plants as well. He has access to 3 feeders (although the window feeder has had a major ant issue this year, so sometimes he only has access to 2). He also is utilizing the same perching locations as last year. That's how I'm able to know that these 3 males are our returning residents.

I'm still not seeing a flurry of activity that commences once lots of babies start fledging. However, whenever I bring that up to my husband and seem concerned, he reminds me that's how it is every year and not to worry as all of sudden, usually in mid July, they seem to be everywhere. We always go on vacation the 2nd week of July and it never fails that when we return, we have tons of hummingbirds and I always have to add 2-3 more feeder to the existing 7-8 that we currently have out.

Just as a side note, summer has finally arrived here in Kernersville, NC, after an extended and unusually cool and wet Spring. We're in the high 80s every day and are expecting our first day in the 90s tomorrow. And we haven't had any rain in over a week now. I would prefer to stay in the 80s, with a nice weekly shower! :)

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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