Ruby-throated hummingbird (Todd Schneider)

By Terry W. Johnson

If you are a ruby-throated hummingbird fan, unless one of these tiny birds overwintered in your yard, you have not seen one since late last summer. But now that March has finally arrived, you will not have to wait much longer to spot your next one. Rest assured as you read this column that ruby-throated hummingbirds are winging their way to our backyards.

Typically, the first ruby-throats are seen in extreme south Georgia around March 1. My records suggest that they reach my middle Georgia home just north of Macon at end of the second week in March. Folks living in north Georgia often do not see their first ruby-throated hummingbird until April. One of my friends who lives in that neck of the woods told me he sees his first hummer when red buckeye begins blooming.

When those first migrants arrive, they are tired and hungry. In addition, they are well on the way to depleting the stored fat that fueled their flight from their winter home, which extends from Panama into southern Mexico. However, in most years they arrive to a late-winter landscape where nectar is difficult to find.

That’s the case once again this year. Periods of extraordinarily warm weather have enticed some of our flowering trees, shrubs and flowers to bloom too early. Even though with each passing day more and more plants are bursting into bloom, looks can be deceiving: Nectar is scarce. The problem is most of these early bloomers do not produce lots of energy-rich nectar. That’s right, although showy plants such as forsythias and daffodils are iconic spring plants, they fall short of being hummingbird food plants.

There are, however, a few plants that do offer hummingbirds much-needed nectar. One of these is the redbud. On Feb. 24, while photographing pine and yellow-rumped warblers dining at a feeder, I happened to notice that branches of large redbud tree just behind the feeder were festooned with dark pink buds. I am certain the tree will be in bloom when the first ruby-throated hummingbirds arrive in a couple of weeks.

Although redbuds are not known to produce large quantities of nectar, since they are one of the few sources of nectar in your yard at this time, the birds will glean some food from this tree’s breathtakingly beautiful blooms. The primary reason why is that redbuds produce lots of pollen. Their blooms are a super source of pollen that is relished by bees and other insect pollinators. This explains why when the large redbud in my yard is in full bloom, it literally buzzes with an untold number of feeding bees,

This is important because we have learned in recent years that tiny insects, spiders and other invertebrates are far more important to the hummingbird’s diet that we imagined. Hummingbirds cannot live on nectar alone: They also need the protein-rich small invertebrates that visit flowers. Consequently, I would not be surprised if you spot a ruby-throat gleaning small critters drawn to the tree’s blossoms.

Another early-blooming plant that helps feed the first hummingbirds of spring is yellow jasmine. This native vine begins blooming early in the year. Hummingbirds can find nectar at the base of the vine’s long trumpet-shaped blossoms.

The yellow-bellied sapsucker helps supply another source of sugar. This odd woodpecker winters in Georgia and one of the ways it feeds itself through that season is by chiseling shallow holes in the bark of hardwood trees. Sap wells up in these holes, which the birds often make in a circle around the tree’s trunk. The woodpecker feeds on both the sap and insects attracted to the sugary treat.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds and other birds, squirrels and even butterflies will also dine at sapsucker holes. These cavities are so important to ruby-throats their northward movement of these hummingbirds coincides with the spring migration needs of yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

Even if redbud trees and yellow jasmine vines are blooming in your yard and sapsucker holes are brimming with tree sap, early ruby-throated hummingbirds will benefit from an abundant source of food that does not require a lot of effort and energy. That is, the sugar water we offer them in feeders. (Homemade nectar should contain 1 part sugar to 4 parts of water.)

Some hummingbird fanciers prefer to scatter a number of feeders across their yard in hopes it will attract hummers. Some even go so far as hanging red ribbons on limbs in hope they will be noticed by the birds. I have always used a more prudent approach. Early in the year, I hang up only one or two feeders, one just outside our kitchen window and the other outside my home office. I fill each only partially with sugar water.

I take this approach knowing that early on in the hummingbird season, few hummingbirds will feed at my feeders. This reduces the amount of nectar that I have to throw away. As the spring migration ramps up and feeder use increases, I add more food and sometimes ever more feeders.

It is hard to fathom that we are just days away from the first ruby-throats of the spring zipping down from the sky and landing at one of our feeders for the first time this year. Are you ready? Nothing is more disheartening than looking out your window and seeing a hummingbird hovering in the very spot where a feeder hung the previous spring.

Don’t disappoint these feathery neighbors that provide you with hours of enjoyment each spring and summer. Put up a hummingbird feeder today!

Terry W. Johnson is a retired Georgia DNR program manager and executive director of The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, the friends group of DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section. Check out past columns, his Backyard Wildlife Connection blog and his book “A Journey of Discovery: Monroe County Outdoors.” Permission is required to reprint a column.