I heard the hum before I saw the bird. I’ve been looking for him for a week. The first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the spring hovered right beside me this morning and sipped from a Red Columbine. The hummingbird always shows up within days of the first blossom’s opening. He was a male, with a gorget of fire coals.
He went straight for the red-spurred blossoms. He probably remembers them from last year, before he went south for the winter. This spring, he’s been flying north since he began somewhere in Central America in February.
He came as quick as he could. He’s surfing the wave of flowers opening northward across the continent. Their nectar powers his journey.
The native wildflower Red Columbine is a mainstay of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. It opens early and blossoms profusely. The flower attracts hummingbirds with its red flowers and rewards them with sweet nectar.
A columbine blossom faces downward, with five petal spurs that lead up to small bulbous reservoirs, where the nectar awaits. The hummingbird probes with its bill. Then it extends its long tongue the rest of the way up the spur to the nectar.
Botanists estimate that ancestral columbines came across the Bering Strait into North America 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. The plants spread out, radiating into dozens of species. About 25 species are still found in western North America.
However, only one grows wild in the eastern half of North America: Red Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis.
And although there are many species of hummingbirds in western North America, only one is commonly found throughout the eastern half: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris.
The left map below shows the range of the Red Columbine. The right map shows the range of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Get the picture?
I make a point of growing columbines outside my kitchen window. Of course, I also have a hummingbird feeder.
But the sight of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird sipping from a Red Columbine is my personal heaven on earth.
Subscriber Pat Hurst emailed the author (and gave permission to show the message here): "Love this one so much!! In Colorado the native Columbine is blue, you would see meadows of them in the Spring. Unfortunately people picked them so that now you don’t see that many. Now I’m watching to see what variety of hummingbird comes to the blue columbines in my yard. Sure love your posts."
Well, you've done it again! Inspired and informed and delighted with your knowledge and lovely photography. Thank you, Diane!