Wednesday, March 25, 2015

You know what the end of March means, don't you?


 
It’s near the end of March so -THE HUMMINGBIRDS ARE BACK!  If you have not put out your feeders, you need to do so in the next day or so since they’re famished, and most nectar-laden flowers aren’t blooming yet. North Texas will host a number of Hummingbirds in the next several weeks. Two or three pairs may establish nesting territories in your yard or the immediate area. The rest will have to find territories elsewhere, or continue moving north. Almost every Hummingbird will pass through “the south”, and the majority (after resting up) will keep travelling northward to Vermont, Ohio, Missouri, North Dakota or... The result will be a tapering of numbers here, and it will seem like they are actually leaving your feeders, except for a few that hang around. The ones that nest here will stay all summer.

Even when the numbers at your feeders drop, it is imperative that feeders be kept clean and that they be
cleaned at every refill. Otherwise, a fungus will develop in the feeder, aggravated by the Texas heat, that grows on the tongues of the Hummingbirds, making them sick.

Next will be late September and October, when fall migration begins. We again will have large numbers in everyone's backyard. They will stop over to rest and replenish energy supplies for their return migration flight to central and South America. (There are absolutely NO Hummingbirds in the other hemisphere; Europe, Africa, Asia etc. -  only the Americas)

 

 

 

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.

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