by Burt Glover

The happy reports have been arriving daily across our area — the hummingbirds are here! It seems as though everybody is head-over-heels in love with them, and I am no exception. Who doesn’t become hypnotized, watching those little jewels zipping around the yard?

I long-thought that ruby-throated hummingbirds were the only species found in South Carolina, but have been astounded to learn there are at least ten species of hummingbirds that have been spotted in our state at one time or another. Ten!! Admittedly, most are rare sightings, and most have occurred during the wintertime. One -– the calliope hummingbird, the smallest bird native to the US — looks much like the ruby-throat. You may one day see a calliope at your feeder and not even know it. Keep your eyes peeled!

Here, I will concentrate only on the ruby-throat. Many years ago, when I lived near Rocky Springs, (off the road to New Holland), I put out a hummingbird feeder. Perhaps it was my proximity to the South Edisto, but my feeder was immediately thronged with hummingbirds. So I put out two feeders, then three. It wasn’t long before my entire yard was a hummer feeding frenzy. I tried to count them once, but with so many, zipping around and wildly chasing each other, it was impossible. I was lucky that I didn’t get my eye put out!

In those days, I didn’t realize the importance of cleanliness. These days I do, so I don’t put feeders. It takes so much attentiveness: cleaning, sanitizing, and putting out fresh nectar every couple of days — or daily in spells of hot temperatures — to prevent fungal and bacterial growth that would swell their tongues and suffocate them. It’s most important, if you choose to feed hummingbirds, to research the proper protocol and commit to following it without fail.

Nowadays, instead of putting out feeders, I plant the flowers they love and enjoy watching the hummingbirds at the flowers. It may equate to fewer hummers, but it sure is a lot less work, plus there are no battles with the bees, wasps and ants taking over the feeders.

In my younger years, I would sometimes, on those first, most beautiful days of spring, call into work and *cough, cough* report that I could not possibly come in. I remember one of those days, I took a lunch to Hitchcock Woods, eventually stopping at one of my favorite spots — a flat area on the top of a tall cliff along Sand River, where I could soak in the sights and scents of a beautiful spring morning. After a while, I ate my lunch, and fell into a peaceful sleep.

At some point, I was awakened by a strange sound. I opened one eye. Not more than three feet above me was a female ruby-throat… and above her was a male doing his courtship display. I plainly got the view that she was seeing — the male, zipping above in continual U-shaped arcs at 45 miles per hour, at least, chittering and making clicking sounds all the while. I’ve read that these arcs can reach upwards of 50 feet into the air. I’m not sure if she was impressed by this display, but I certainly was. 

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Hummingbirds do not depend on us humans for food. Though 90% of their intake consists of nectar, they can obtain this substance from flowers, damaged fruit, or from tree sap derived from the holes made by sapsuckers.

Insects are an essential component of their diet, and they spend much time plucking spiders — along with hapless snared bugs from their webs; snapping up mosquitoes, fruit flies, gnats and other bugs out of the air; searching plants and tree bark for aphids, beetles, ants and other small insects. In the wild, they will certainly not starve, but our feeders can provide them with an important source of food in an increasingly uncertain world. 

It sounds idyllic, but life can be tough for a hummingbird. There are so many other creatures that would dine upon them. Unfortunately, our domestic cats, left outside to roam freely, might be their main hazard. Others include the giant, imported Chinese praying mantises, largemouth bass, bullfrogs, snakes, and even large dragonflies will nab them. Hawks, crows, blue jays, grackles, herons, shrikes and gulls also take a toll.

Hummingbirds can also get caught in the sticky webs of larger spider species, either in flight or while collecting the web to build their nest. While the spiders do not prey on them, hummingbirds can become hopelessly snared.

Climate change threatens the timing of the flowers they need to sustain them during and upon arrival from their migratory trips from Mexico and Central America to our backyards. Habitat destruction is also disappearing many of the native flowers they depend on for survival.

The good news is that, despite these hazards, their numbers in the eastern US are said to be increasing, which is yet another reason to be happy with their arrival each spring. Ruby-throated hummingbirds may be tiny and delicate in stature, but they are also tough little birds who won’t hesitate to chase giant hawks many times their size from their territory. Our efforts to help them by providing flowers and feeders are well-spent.

Contributor Burt Glover became an accidental naturalist during his earliest childhood days exploring the dirt roads, backyards, polo field and barns of the Magnolia-Knox-Mead neighborhood of 1950s Aiken. Birds are his first love, and he can identify an impressive range by song alone. He asserts that he is an observer, not an expert, on the topics of his writings, which range from birds, box turtles, frogs and foraging, to wasps, weeds, weather and beyond.