Good Morning Kossacks and Welcome to Morning Open Thread
We're here every morning between 6:30 and 7:00. Feel free to volunteer to take a day - permanent or just once in awhile. With the autopublish feature you can set it and forget it. Quite often the diarist de jour shows up much later, that's the beauty of Open Thread...it carries on without you! Just let us know in the comments.
Doing one of these diaries is a good way to get your feet wet if you have been hesitant about writing a diary. You can write as much or as little as you want. The audience here is always supportive.
Fall is my favorite time of year, especially the early part of fall when the nights get cooler and the days are balmy. It is also the time of year to say good bye. Follow me over the breakfast Danish to see what I mean.
As I have written previously, I love to feed the birds. I maintain four seed feeders of varying types and one hummingbird feeder. Feeding the birds is more for my own entertainment than it is to nourish them. If I did not put out feeders, there are plenty more options in my neighborhood so that no bird ever goes to nest hungry.
Most of the birds that come to my feeders are non-migratory, such as the cardinals, titmice, Carolina chickadees, and nuthatches. However, the ruby throat hummingbirds we have here in the east do migrate south for the winter, mostly to Central America. They must migrate because their primary food source becomes scarce as the temperatures cool off. I will leave the feeder up through the first of October, but generally, they are gone by the end of the third week in September.
Hummingbirds are the most entertaining of all the birds. They are extremely curious and will often fly up to the window or sliding glass door just to check us out as they hover. They are not afraid to come to the feeder even when we are sitting on the deck and occasionally they will buzz us. But they are loners and very territorial. Unlike some other birds like cardinals who mate for life, hummingbirds are promiscuous. Once they mate, the male is out of the picture. The female does all the work in building the nest and incubating the two eggs she lays.
The purpose of a hummingbird feeder is to simulate nectar which hummers need for energy. Their metabolism is very high and nectar provides their energy source. Their nutrition comes from eating flies, gnats, mosquitoes and other small insects. While I have seen photographs of multiple birds feeding from a single feeder, I have never had that happen at my house. I used to put out two feeders spaced about 25 feet apart and I still had a single bird claim both as its territorial feeder.
This year, I did have two birds come to my feeder on a regular basis. One was a large female and the second was a much smaller bird, which I believe is a juvenile male whose ruby throat has not yet shown, but there is a shadow of it. They never shared the feeder and would put on some amusing aerial battles over the feeder if they happen to come to it at the same time. Sometimes I could hear their loud battle chirping in the trees as a warning to each other to stay away from "their" feeder.
Sunday afternoon was the last time I saw the big female, so she is probably gone. The smaller bird is still here but will probably leave within the next week. Migration is triggered by an internal sensor keyed on the hours of daylight. The mature males are the first to migrate, followed by the mature females. The juveniles are the last to migrate, probably because they need to build more body mass. In the spring, the males will be the first to arrive, about one to two weeks ahead of the females.
So it is time to say good bye. I will miss the hummingbirds. They are wonderfully entertaining and curious birds. Hopefully, my birds will make it safely to Central America and back here again. It is said that they return to the same area every summer. Until next year, good bye and safe travels.
What is on your mind this morning?