Date: 10/17/2023

Number: 1

Terrible photo, but I snapped this shot with my phone this afternoon. This sweet female, whom we have named Marble, has been with us for some time now. You can see her nicely camouflaged in the upper right hand corner of the photo.

I'm fairly certain she is not one of our "residents", but a traveler, who stopped in for a lengthy pit stop. In the last few days, she has decided to spend part of her afternoons with me out back and perches here on our large Mock Orange. She is becoming more and more comfortable with me and perched within 10 feet of me. Interestingly, this is a favorite perch of our resident hummingbirds, so needless to say, I do find it a bit confusing as to whether or not she is a traveler or one of our residents who decided to linger after all the others had left.

Regardless, you can see that she has fattened up nicely and appears to be ready for her journey south. We've been praying for God to prod her along, as temps have been quite chilly at night (low 40s), which, along with the decreased daylight, is definitely taking a toll on many of our flowers. Thank goodness, there is still plenty of Salvia, Fuchsia, Cuphea, and Buddleia thriving.

I'm maintaining 6 feeders, but I honestly rarely see her or any at a feeder. Every day, she enjoys visiting the various flowers planted all around the house, front, back, and side yards. And again, I'm not 100% certain she is the only one we currently have, as each day, I am observing feeding occurring at various locations around the yard. Just not sure if it's only her or another hummingbird. I haven't witnessed any interaction between two birds since last week.

Our last resident juvenile headed out on October 15th last year. About a week later, we had our very first ever juvenile male Rufous arrive, whom we named Raphy. He really surprised us and so many others when he decided to winter with us. He stayed until the end of March.

I'm keeping a close eye out for this sweet Ruby, Marble, while also watching out for the potential arrival of Raphy and/or any other Rubies or Rufous. Please keep your feeders up and fresh. Lots of flying jewels are still heading south- God speed, sweet ones! ❤️

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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