Flying Jewels~Opus Two

Adult male hummers have a brilliant red throat and black chin. Sometimes it's difficult to tell the sex of our fall visitors, but juvenile males often begin to show red spotting on the throat by early fall. If you look closely, you can see a small red spot at the base of the throat of this male who is very interested in a Cleome blossom. While we like to think Momma visits us each year with a new brood of young 'uns, there's no guarantee it's the same mother each year. She and her young make a ridiculously long and hazardous round trip to Central America, and she may not survive the trip. However, her offspring will return as adults as they have imprinted this location in their memory bank.