Female rubythroat. It would be very rare to have any other kind of hummer in the Mid-Atlantic, although they do show up in very low numbers with some regularity. Female rubythroats lack the male's bright red throat.

That first season is like having a new car. Just go out and put a scratch on it and get it over with! Its outside. I put plastic gliders on my IPE furniture and it still marks it up. A small rag with oil will clear it up. But over time food and scratches will happen. The real problem is the fine almost furniture quality a freashly oiled (and sealed) deck has. Its outside, get over it. One problem I have around my house is not enough time to enjoy it. Between matainence and commitments its hard to just sit on the deck and chill out! birds and berries? Berries I can't help you with but at least its warm and fuzzy to know that Ipe does will with buck shot.

The first "drizzle" of the season! Of course! Both cars HAD to be washed yesterday. The dogs were bathed and groomed and the garden tools are all recharged, in hopes of being able to clean things up before the rain. The only other things I could do to guaranty it would start early would have been to paint the house, plan an outdoor party, begin removing the wood siding in preparation for stucco, hang laundry and leave all the windows open.

When my husband lured him out, he put the red feeder in a large ficus that spends winter indoors and had just been moved outside (because I can NOT completely get rid of the scale on it). The ficus is nestled in a shady corner by the garage door. Amazingly, although never having had a feeder anywhere near that space in the past, two males were fighting over it before nightfall. I think they really like having a feeder in a tree. They'll sit on the higher branches and then flit down to the feeder. My husband didn't know they were territorial and said the two hummingbirds were "dancing" around the feeder. HA! Next time my teenage boys start arguing I'm going to yell, "Ya'll stop dancing!" Either those two males were fighting over all feeders in the yard, or I have several hummingbirds right now. I did just see my first female at a feeder in an older location. Dicentra is blooming, forsythia is still in bloom, and I'm not too many days away from Columbine canadensis flowers opening.