By Clay Christensen

I live in a house without a fenced yard. So, when it’s time for my pup, Rocky, to go out to do what dogs have to do, I hook him up to a leash and we go out together.

Rocky has a unique routine when we go out. He stops and pauses to look around at three or four different spots on the front sidewalk or patio. He just stops and looks around, sometimes whines softly. I call it “The Stations of the Sidewalk.”

I don’t know what he’s whining about. I thought he was complaining that he didn’t see any of his friends, but I don’t think that’s it.

The other afternoon, we headed out and he paused at the corner of the house (Station One) to peek around the corner for chipmunks or squirrels (my guess, again). Then we moved to Station Two, the edge of the patio where the low-lying Lamium flowers come closest.

Suddenly I heard the burr of wingbeats. It was a female ruby-throated hummingbird coming right at us, across the lawn.

I think she was upset that the hummingbird feeder wasn’t out in the yard yet. I’m sure she remembered it from last year and she was honked!

I overdosed on hummingbirds on a trip to Ecuador a few years ago and it seemed to me that the hummers expressed their anger or threatened one another by beating their wings in such a way that they made an audible churring sound.

I took the hint. As soon as Rocky and I had finished our walk, I went to the garage and got the hummingbird/oriole feeder. It’s a rather shallow plastic dish that holds the sugar water nectar.

There’s a hook/hanger in the center and a tray that fits over the nectar dish. On that tray are four little cups that can be filled with grape jelly, and between those cups are little holes through which a hummingbird can insert its beak and drink up the nectar.

I started my preparations, putting a Pyrex measuring cup full of water into the microwave, then getting a quarter-cup of white sugar. When the water had heated up, I mixed in the sugar. No food coloring: it isn’t good for birds. They don’t need it to be attracted to sugar water.

I poured the cooled nectar into the tray, put on the cover and then squirted grape jelly into each of the cups on the tray.

My feeder came with little caps that fit over the inside ends of the holes through which the hummers put their bills. They fit on the underside of the hole and are split so they allow the bill through but stop the bees and other critters that try to get at the nectar.

I have a shepherd’s hook pole in the yard and hung the feeder there.

I wrote an e-mail to my birding buddies about the scolding I’d just gotten from the hummer. My buddy Bonnie replied: “Gosh, Clay. You’ve got quite the demanding hummingbird! You could try having Rocky teach her the Zen of insistent patience to get what you want! Let me know how it goes.”

I’ve told the group how Rocky totally stuns me by standing in front of me as I sit in my comfy chair, forcing me to guess what it is he wants! He just stands there! Very frustrating. I go through the list: Outside? A treat? Belly rubs? It seems if nothing clicks, a belly rub is always good.

We’ll be looking for hummingbirds to visit our feeder this summer. I hope you have space to hang out a feeder for these remarkable birds.

Wild bird supply stores have a variety of types of hummingbird feeders including some that are nectar bottles upside down with feeding portals screwed onto the neck. If you have a lot of hummer traffic, this might be a good choice for you.

Here in southern Minnesota, we most often see the ruby-throated hummingbird. The male has a red gorget on its throat that shines brilliantly when the sun hits it right. The female is less colorful, but she has white dots on the tips of her tail.

Hummingbirds are often aggressive to one another, guarding their food supply and chasing off rivals.

Another hummingbird, for which we have some 20 records reported in Robert Janssen’s “Birds in Minnesota,” is the rufous hummingbird. This bird breeds along the west coast all the way up to Alaska. Some may get blown into Minnesota on their biannual migrations. I haven’t seen one yet, but I’ll keep looking.!

So far, I haven’t seen any hummingbirds at my feeder since I put it out. Others in the neighborhood have reported hummers, but not me. Maybe it’s another situation that requires Rocky’s insistent patience! 

Clay Christensen writes and lives in Lauderdale.

Caption: Photo by Harris Mallory