Rona Wylie Golding is accustomed to seeing hummingbirds this time of year, though not the large numbers that have been frequenting her feeder as of late.
Golding said the hummingbirds usually return to her Sorrento residence around mid-April in search of her feeder.
“They’ll come and tweet at you from the hooks where you had them the previous year and actually complain if the feeder isn’t out,” said Golding with a laugh. “So I’ve got to rush inside and start boiling the water.”
This year, however, Golding is seeing many more of the iridescent nectarivores darting around the feeder by her deck than she has ever seen in her 15 years in the South Shuswap.
“They’re just fascinating aren’t they,” said Golding. “We came from England and you don’t get anything like that there. Seeing these, it’s pretty special.”
To share her experience, Golding has been using her cellphone to capture video of the birds at her feeder, which she’s shared on her Facebook page. One of the videos, taken on May 9 in slow motion, shows between nine and 10 of them at the feeder at one time.
Golding believes the birds are nesting in cedar trees next to her backyard.
“I think in total there’s got to be maybe 30,” she said. ” Right now, they’re coming and going, it’s like a steady flow. But at 8:30 in the evening they all come out and it’s almost like the last feed before they set down for the night. At 8:30 you can sit out here and its just crazy, just a frenzy.”
Golding couldn’t say why there are so many hummingbirds at her place this year, though she’s heard similar reports from others.
“I’ve been speaking with friends, we said is it maybe a cleaner planet right now, is that one of the reasons? I don’t know, but we’ve never seen anything like it,” said Golding.