A second hummingbird

last year's view in late March

This morning, a second hummingbird of the season! 

I think it was a female, but the light wasn't good enough to tell.  S/he was visiting the Carolina Jessamine flowers outside my study window.  So nice to see.

This year's view is quite similar to last year's!

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First hummingbird 2013

I knew there had been lots of sightings nearby before now, according to the reports and map at Journey North, but I was delighted to see my first hummingbird (a male) of the season this evening.  He was visiting the porch feeder (the whir of wings was a welcome sign of his arrival). It was only the second dinner out on the porch (the unseasonably cool March weather precluded any earlier porch meals!)

I had put out fresh sugar water in mid-March (hoping for an earlier sighting -- one of the fun things about having blog post "records" is that I can look back and see when I've first seen a hummingbird in previous years -- it's fun to look back.

hummingbird visiting Campsis (at Biltmore)

This is a photo I took at Biltmore Estate (in Asheville, NC) in late August, 2009 (and my post about watching them). 

There is an enormous Campsis radicans (Trumpet-creeper) growing on the arbor on the side of the house towards the gardens.  Needless to say, the hummingbirds visiting the flowers are used to being around visitors! 

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Carolina jessamine

Carolina jessamine

Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is a great native vine in the southeastern U.S.   But what I hadn't realized is how well it responds to pruning, with denser flowering shoots (so more prolific flowering).  A recent stay at a B&B in Chattanooga found me admiring Carolina Jessamine (pruned) in all sort of guises.  This was just one of them.

Definitely something to practice on the Carolina jessamine on our porch railing.

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Spring woodland wildflowers

A second visit to a botanical wonderland this weekend ("The Pocket" on Pigeon Mountain, GA) -- along the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail found numerous treasures in flower.  The Pocket is a rich cove forest (so pH levels are nearly neutral), supporting a rich array of wildflowers. 

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are abundant and were in flower (actively visited by bumblebees on the day we were there).

Mertensia virginica

Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) was still in flower (it was in flower 3 weeks ago on our first visit).

Claytonia virginica

Yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) was in flower (younger plants and seedlings are abundant at this site). Its large flowers were impressive.

Erythronium americanum

And the fiddleheads of Christmas fern were striking!

Christmas fern fiddleheads

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