Date: 08/18/2024

Number: 18

This munchkin is surveying the skies to keep from being dive bombed by another Ruby. Tremendous activity continues with our jewels. Our Mama hummers are all done nesting and are focused on fueling up for the journey south. Same holds true for our adult males. The adults lose patience with the juveniles by this time. Lots of fussing going on. The juvies are super busy learning how to be hummingbirds and they are doing a good job at it. All our feeding heavily from both flowers and feeders. They are nearly draining 11 feeders every 2 days at this point. All are fattening up nicely, with the exception of the newest fledglings from the 2nd clutches. They are always our last to leave, as they often are not able to really fatten up until some of the others start heading south. We've gotten some good rain lately and temps have stayed under 90 degrees, thank goodness. August has been much more pleasant than June or July was and it looks like this week is going to be even nicer, with highs in the low 80s and lows even dipping down into the 50s.

At this point, it's hard to tell an exact number of how many we have here; however, I would definitely say that 18 is a conservative estimate. At our cabin in Laurel Springs, NC, the number of Rubies is also estimated around 18 or so. They are feeding from 4 quart size feeders, as well as flowers.

With the exception of the goldfinches, all of our songbirds are either done or nearly done with nesting and raising babies for this year. It's a wonderful time now watching all the youngsters out and about. They make the heat worth it! :)

Kernersville, NC

Latitude: 36.1 Longitude: -80.1

Observed by: Sophie
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