Originally posted Aug. 25, 2012, at A Constant Stream of Grace. Republished with permission of the author.
We have a hummingbird feeder at home. I bring it in after the birds have migrated to wherever it is they go just before winter. I give it a good cleaning and put it away for the season, knowing there aren’t any hummingbirds around to feed from it anyway and that a clean protected feeder will last longer than one left to the elements.
But once the spring comes, I put the feeder out again, and the birds feed all through the spring, summer and fall. Unless of course, I don’t refill it once it’s empty.
That’s what happened this year. The birds ate everything and because I didn’t refill the feeder, it sat empty for a whole month. And then another. There were no hummingbirds anywhere.
Two weeks ago, I took the feeder down, gave it a good cleaning, mixed a fresh batch of sugar water, and put the refilled feeder back in its place. Within two days, the hummingbirds, which had been gone for two full months, were back feeding and dive-bombing one another just as if the feeder had never gone empty.
I find their return amazing, especially because it happened so quickly. It’s also amazing to me that they find the feeder at all. After all, it’s just a small, colorless, nondescript bottle in a small spot in our small yard. Yet, from every other possible place to feed, these birds find our bottle, monitor it, flock to it, return to it, fight over it.
I guess once you know where the food is, you don’t forget. I pray we all be like the hummingbirds, but for us, knowing where to find friendship, grace, peace and hope.
Find a link to Laura Holck’s blog A Constant Stream of Grace at Lutheran Blogs.
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I like hummingbirds; for care and feeding, always use only 4 parts water:1 part sugar, boil briefly and cool before adding to the hummingbird feeder. Never red stuff. Clean your feeder weekly, and eliminate mold with 10% bleach. Also, if you are east-ish of the Mississippi and around the Mason-Dixon line or north, report any hummingbirds you see after Oct 1 to the state ornithological society. The rare hummingbirds usually come through then and into November. Hummingbird net (Google it since links are verboten here) will give lots of great info and track migration, too.
I'm not sure that your hummingbirds are "remembering" your feeder, so much as searching a wide area for food and finding it at the feeder. Plus, it's fall migration now, and some of those birds may not be the same ones you saw in spring.
All of that said, though, there's no Gospel here in what I've said or the OP.