Since our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrived on March 31 we have wondered
what happened to the rest of them as we’ve only had 5 or 6 until yesterday.
Yesterday the southwest winds brought more and this morning we have at least
25-30 and we’ve put up more feeders. This has been an unusual spring in our
yard as we’ve only had a hand full of warblers and flycatchers. The gorgeous
male and female Summer Tanagers coming daily have kept us looking in the trees
and the Orchard Oriole male and female add to the color occasionally. A very
immature Pine Siskin at the feeder on Wednesday and Thursday this week was a
surprise. A Great-crested Flycatcher came through on Wednesday but only stayed
a few minutes and yesterday a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher did the same. Our
summer resident Eastern Peewee has returned and begun his usual harassment. The
Common Yellowthroats are nesting in the yard again and the male comes to the
water in the late evening to take a bath, much to our delight, and the
Yellow-breasted Chat has appeared more often than usual although they never
seem to nest in our yard. Our Bluebirds have a couple of young ones that
fledged last week when a small snake appeared on the ground underneath their
box and the parents went into frantic calls and the young ones shot out of the
box as if propelled by an explosive charge. A Whip-poor-will has been calling
just before dark and the Wood Thrushes call throughout the day in their usual
inaccessible-to-us nesting sites at the bottom of the hill behind our house.
Tommy and Virginia Curtis
Smithville, TN
DeKalb County
