Who doesn’t love a hummingbird? I’ve put out my feeder and already spotted a couple of early birds (pun intended)!  My husband took the picture to the left through a window, which is why the photo’s a little fuzzy.  He was afraid if he opened the back door, this little birdie would fly away.  (Look closely to find the hummer!)

Though our guest was not a very colorful member of the hummingbird family, I was excited to see a market for my leftover bottle of  nectar.

  No, I don’t mix my own.

Last year when my backyard hostas bloomed, they were also a draw for hummingbirds. If foliage is any indication of flowers to come, it looks like another good year for hummingbirds to hover over my hostas.

Did you know the average hummingbird weighs only one-eighth to seven-tenths of an ounce? That’s the weight of one to eight pennies.  They aren’t tiny because they don’t eat, however.  Hummingbirds feed constantly, about 5-10 times per hour for 30-60 seconds each time.

In fact, they eat their weight in nectar or sugar water each day. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could eat our weight in sweets each day and be as small as a hummingbird?  Then again, maybe not such a good idea.  The thought of consuming that many doughnuts is a little sickening.

The above hummingbird info came from a quick google search, but I also heard a speaker at my garden club recently whose topic was titled “Those Amazing Hummers.” One aspect of the hummingbird she talked about that I found interesting involved raising their babies.

It seems male hummingbirds are playboys whose goal in life is to see how many lady hummingbirds they can impregnate. These cads don’t stay around to help with the young, but leave the mama hummingbird to do all the baby bird work.

But, our speaker said, the male hummingbird usually lives only three years while the female averages five.  Somehow I find that fact strangely satisfying.

Got any hummingbird pictures you’d like to share on this blog? Send them to me at patsy.pridgen@gmail.com, and I’ll post.