The Buzz about Spring

I came into my office on Thursday the 5th, and the red message light on my telephone was blinking.

It was a message from M.: "They're here. I was walking the dogs, and I heard one."

I knew what she meant: she had heard the aerial buzz of a male broad-tailed hummingbird.

Friday was full of freezing drizzle, and today so far features freezing fog with a threat of snow. I put up a sugar-water feeder on Friday, and by later afternoon it was freezing up, so I took it down.

I know that hummingbirds can slow their metabolism to survive bouts of cold weather. But sometimes I wonder if, even as "the second mouse gets the cheese," the second hummer gets the territory.