It was the third week of October 2018 in Colorado Springs.
I hadn't seen any hummers around our house for several weeks.
I had taken down most of the feeders for the season, but I had been too lazy to bring in two from the back yard.
It was snowing outside and the temperature was about 20°F.
I looked out our window into the backyard and I saw a little ball of puffed out feathers sitting on a feeder full of ice.
I immediately made some fresh nectar and put out a clean feeder, but by the time I put it up the little visitor was nowhere to be seen.
I was devastated thinking of the poor hummer out in the cold that had come to my yard hoping for food, but finding nothing.
Then, I had to immediately leave the house for several hours.
I finally began to find some comfort in the idea that I had probably seen a different type of small bird that had just happened to perch on the feeder, and that I had imagined that it was a hummer.
When I got home I immediately looked out the window, and she was back!
A little ball of feathers shivering in the feeder.
I spent the evening rotating feeders to ensure that there was unfrozen nectar available.
In the morning the temperature had dropped to 10°F, and I put out feeders with warm nectar before first light.
I attached toe warmers to the bottom of the feeders to to help keep the nectar thawed.
When morning light came, she was back. I continued to rotate the feeders as needed all day.
The weather continued to get warmer, and every day she seemed to act more like a happy hummer.
Our little visitor stayed for about a week, and then she was gone.
I kept the feeders out until November.
This spring I built and tested 3 heated feeders.
I'm ready for my late migrator this year.
