The Rufous dingers (from hummingbird - hummer - humdinger - ergo "dinger") arrive every year in Elkton in mid February. This past year, the lady of the nest arrived first, followed several days later by the male of the nest. Eventually, instead of waiting for them to come to the feeder under the deck, I got the bright idea of actually going outside and trying to get some action shots.
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hummer male and firethorn1
The Rufous dingers (above) are the only ones I see all summer. They leave sometime in October, but yesterday I discovered we get a different variety that winters in our area. The Anna's Hummingbird (sorry for the blurriness, but these guys don't stay long at the feeder) arrives in late October, and supposedly stays all winter. Guess I'll have to find some sort of dinger antifreeze for the feeder on our occasional cold snaps.
(Next year, now that I've begun to learn my camera, I hope to get clearer shots of them with the sun on their throats - amazing, the red/orange iridescence.)
