This year a single ruby-throated hummingbird arrived at our feeder on May 2, my wife’s birthday. This date is important for not only that reason but as it turns out, if one is keeping score, the hummingbirds arrived last year on the same date. A year before that, the tiny winged knots of color arrived a week and a half early — but who’s counting?
With all the uncertainty in life, nature is a certainty that does not disappoint if one takes the time to see it. Birds of Downeast Maine especially have become adept at keeping schedules. Whether it’s to begin a journey covering thousands of miles, to choose a mate and begin a family or dazzle us from a stage that happens to be a window in our home we have a front row seat to see it all.
It was not until I moved here that I became more observant. The migration of a bird species I knew nothing about in all my years used to go unnoticed, but now I look forward to spring’s arrival on the wings of a tiny creature. I guess it shows how unpredictable life truly is. Who doesn’t enjoy a surprise every now or then?
The hummingbird’s journey covers thousands of miles when they depart Central America and arrive here in early spring to breed. Flying non-stop up to 500 miles at a time the males arrive first, then the females. The birds and their generations of offspring will return to the same area, to the same feeders if afforded the opportunity.
Hummingbirds have huge appetites and can garner flight speeds close to 60 miles per hour. They can also fly in all directions, even backwards with wing beats of 50 times per second generating the humming sound we hear.
The other morning I watched at my home as anywhere from six to eight hummingbirds hovered in the air to drink nectar from the feeders. They were a gregarious group to be sure, yet remained civil throughout the morning hours. That afternoon, the swooping pattern of dance shadowed the window like that of an aerial love letter being written for all to witness.
Keeping a somewhat similar schedule, the osprey or fish hawk is another sojourner I look forward to seeing return each spring to the branch-laden platforms along the coast. We all have that go-to spot where we try to catch a glimpse of movement atop the maelstrom of entwined branches in hopes of seeing the silhouette of an adult pair preparing their home for the summer.
The osprey is a raptor that eats other animals and, in their case, fish is the predominant diet. Wintering in South America, the osprey — like the hummingbird — begins its journey north arriving here in Maine sometime in April. Egg laying occurs a few weeks after their arrival and in just two months of rapid growth the chicks begin to fly in early August. In September the osprey will travel solo to begin their migration back south.
Nature is an amazing element of our lives because it is pure life performing rituals, battles, love stories and death defying journeys across oceans and time itself. And we get to see it all from the cheap seats if we afford ourselves the time to do so.
We, too, keep to schedules in Downeast Maine. Depending on the time of year we will be either readying for a season inside or opening up windows and doors to let another season sit and visit for a while. Then, like the tides that come and go by way of the moon, we will move through our day keeping family and business schedules to a tee.
Rights and rituals will fill our time amidst the proverbial surprise, yet here Down East, there are always some summertime constants to take in and enjoy. The blue sky will always meet blue waters. Boats will come and go and gulls will always follow; patches of the barren’s green will ripen to blue and fiddleheads will play their song as they uncoil every spring with the arrival of hummingbirds and ospreys.
Who knows what fate has in store for any of us tomorrow let alone next year? But for certain down here at our home in Starboard we will keep watch every April. We will hang the feeders filled with sugary goodness and look to the tops of poles where platforms crowded with twisted twigs of last year’s nest await their occupants.
Finding nature is the easy part. We must then slow it all down by not trying too hard. Giving time to the moment that is in front of us, we become a player in this theater of natural wonder. If done properly you will find as I did that sometimes it is the simplest things in life that nourish our body and spirit. In the case of these mighty miraculous hummingbirds or the stalwart osprey — both warriors of travel — they are certain to bring a smile to my face no matter what time of year they decide to show up.