Date: 08/06/2024

Number: 18

This little guy is one of our summer resident adult male Rubies. He was born here in the summer of 2021 and returns every year. We named him Sprite and he has a favorite garden that he claimed and defends each year. He has specific perches, which has allowed me to identify him upon his return each year. He has always been very comfortable around me, as he got used to me as a youngster. He even seems to know his name, haha. I'll call for him if I don't see him right away and sure enough, he comes down from a large Maple tree where he rests during the heat of the day. As you can see in the photo, he is currently in molting mode, as is the case with our other adult males as well. However, that's not stopping him from maintaining dominance in his garden, while being tested constantly by this season's youngsters. Interestingly, he and our alpha male, Sparky, seem to have developed mutual respect for one another as their territories share a border. Also interestingly, I'm fairly certain that Sparky is Sprite's dad, which is pretty cool.

Activity here is super busy, with juveniles constantly zooming all over the place, chasing, fighting, playing, etc. They are feeding from both flowers and feeders. We have at least 18 or so, including several adult males and females and lots of new juveniles. Second clutches of the season should be fledging from nests within the next week or so. Those new youngsters have it rough until the adult males and some of the juveniles from the first clutches head south in early to mid September. The 2nd set of fledglings are also the last to depart and hang around until early to mid October.

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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