Giving the Hummers a Good Send-Off

This is the first year that I've been conscientious about keeping the bird feeders full and clean. I've really tried to clean and refill the hummingbird feeder once a week. I guess that moves this whole "bird thing" more into the hobby realm because I enjoyed it, more than feeling it was just another job I had to do.

Thanks to some reading in one of our bird identification books, I learned that female and young hummingbirds usually migrate south mid-September from Michigan. The males go about two weeks before this (is this because they need the extra time to look their best for when the females come around?) Normally, by this time, I would have taken the hummingbird feeder down or started to ignore it. The bird book said to leave up the feeder about two weeks past mid-September so that any birds who are about to migrate can feed. I thought we had seen the last of them after our stormy weather this past weekend and then just yesterday I was surprised by a pair of them. Still, all around are the reminders that summer is almost passed.