Getting Ready for a Long Trip

Not me. The hummingbirds.
I noticed a lot of activity around the hummingbird feeder and checked to find out that these little birds are storing energy for their migration to their winter homes. The ruby red throats will winter in Mexico and will leave here in a few weeks. By the end of September they'll all be gone. Maybe I should join them. 

Some of these little guys will fly more than 1000 miles nonstop during migration. Others will take a break along the way. Tracking shows that hummingbirds return to the same places at each end of their migration each year and generally make the same stops, usually within a day or so of previous years. They travel solo so young birds rely on instinct to follow the paths of their ancestors.
The smallest hummingbirds lay eggs that are the size of the mini jelly beans and weigh around 1/50th of an ounce! Maybe I'll look into making nesting spots for them this coming winter.
They only have a 3-5 year lifespan. I figure they probably get to the end of their tropical winter one year and say, "F#*k that! I'm not flying another fricken 1000 miles this year!" and then they die from too much heat in the tropical summer. 
Or maybe they just don't have the strength to make it back and freeze during our Midwest winter.

I'll try to keep the feeder full so they'll have plenty of energy for the long journey. I always wonder if some of them might feed at my son's feeder during the winter since I know he has some red throats that winter in Puerto Vallarta.

John