I know there are people out there who have dozens of birds coming to their feeders and flowers, but I'm just as pleased with my more modest achievement. I saw my first bird, (a male) on May 2nd, but only saw him once. By mid May, there was a regular female visiting, but she seemed to be the only one.

Today, I noticed that the nectar levels were falling more rapidly, so decided to keep an extra close watch. My hunch turned out to be correct, and I was thrilled to see a male zipping into the feeder. Of course, I don't know if it's the same male that visited in early May, or even if the visiting female might be two birds. As far as I can tell, though, it's probably a single female and a single male. When he's done feeding, the male disappears across the street, whereas the female always whizzes off into the next door neighbor's back yard. I'm wondering if she may have a nest there.

Last year, I didn't see any hummers at all until August, when I had at least four birds at my trumpet vine before I decided to hang a feeder. To have them so comparatively early this season feels like an accomplishment.

I've been videotaping both birds today, and getting some nice footage at the feeder. I wish they would visit my columbines or Salvia coccinea, but they seem happiest with the sugar water feeder, which means my video footage is not as picturesque as it could be. The camera is not digital, so I can't post anything without doing some sort of conversion. It's a great video camera, with higher resolution than most, and great optical zoom capability, it just doesn't have the convenience of digital.