By Mary Alice Murphy

I have had such fun lately watching the hummingbirds. Our first hummer arrived a little late a few days after the usual arrival date of March 24, but we had a pair of broad-tailed and another pair of black-chinned coming to our feeders.

With the beginning of the monsoon season earlier this month, today being the last day of July, the feisty rufous hummingbirds started showing up. Within the past 10 days, we have been deluged with hungry birdies.

We haven't seen any broad-tailed in a while, but we still have black-chinned. Whether they are the original pair, which I believe nested and raised a brood here, I'm not sure. We have two or three pairs of black-chinned and three or four pairs of rufous, with perhaps some juveniles in the mix, too.

But the big news for us is that this year we again have a calliope pair, for at least the past week. We haven't seen them in years. Guess the drought kept them away.

This brings up a question for me. The past few dry years, we had only four to six hummers in total at a time, and a full feeder would last several days. Not this year. We have two smaller flat feeders and one tall glass one with six perches and sipping ports. Sometimes, all six on the tall feeder and at least three or four of one of the flat feeders, are occupied by hummers glugging down the sugar water. The other flat feeder I don't watch as often, as it's in the back yard to serve as a decoy for one rufous who sits and guards it. I'm daily making at least six cups of sugar water for the wee flying gems.

Oh, yes, the question. Where have they been for the past few years? Or because we seem to be having at least some rain, did the birdies know it was a good breeding year and so they brought their young'uns to visit and eat?

But we haven't seen the calliopes for at least three years. And they really are my favorites. I know—we're not supposed to have favorites. I like them because in spite of their petite size, they don't let the rufous hummers intimidate them. A male rufous shows up and flares his tail feathers and chirps at the other birds on the feeder. The calliope, male or female, may rise away from the perch and sipping port, but it doesn't flee like the black-chinned ones do. The calliopes stand their ground and once the rufous has settled into sipping, the calliopes go right back to where they were and continue to imbibe. They know it is just bluster from the bullies of the hummingbird world.

This morning when I was retuning a newly filled feeder to the ravenous birds, I was bringing my hands down from lifting the feeder over my head to its hanger, and a rufous showed up within inches. I froze in position and had six to eight hummers buzzing around the feeder and me. My right hand, frozen in place, was within two or three inches of a feeding male calliope. Wish I could have petted it.

Enjoy the rainy season—I always do—and be sure to notice the wondrous world around you.

Let me hear from you at justcallmemam@grantcountybeat.com.

May your musings bring you beauty!