Finally...They're Back....

...those wonderful, sometimes wicked, tiny, buzzy birds!

Nearly four weeks ago, when the temperatures reached a high in the 70s during the day but dipped into the mid-40s at night, I went up to the machine shed and retrieved all of the feeders for the summer birds - humming bird and oriole feeders - and cleaned them thoroughly. I made my first batch of hummingbird nectar, filled the feeders, and waited. After about five days of checking feeders from time to time throughout the day, what did I get? 

Ants.

So, I dumped out the nectar, cleaned out the feeders, and refilled them.

One week later... more ants.

I let the feeders sit there, full of yucky ant-ridden nectar through the recent rains. Then, two days ago, I decided to try again. Today, we had torrents of rain, followed by sunny skies and warm ripples of wind. I opened all of the windows and sat down to write... when I heard it. A buzzzzz like a ginormous bee followed by several shreiks - almost like angry mice. I turned and saw them - yes, them. Two male hummingbirds, each claiming my feeder. Off and on, all day, they drank, chased, and bombinated at my feeder like two adolescent cowboys vying for the same piece of land.

I imagine the ladies lay in wait....

So, welcome back little tikes!

So much better than those pesky ants!