The First One!

April 9, 2025

During dinner this evening I saw something fly past the window, looking in as it went by. It made a sudden change of direction which said to me, “Hummingbird!” But I wasn’t able to focus on it, so I was uncertain. A few minutes later it showed up at the feeder that I had put out just three days ago.

Sure enough it was a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). I wonder where he spent his winter. Did he go as far south as Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, or Panama? Did he go straight over the Gulf of Mexico or did he fly along the Gulf Coast?

If he doesn’t continue further north, but decides to stay here during the summer, we’re going to have to have a chat about his travels.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.