‘Tiny harbingers of spring’ near end of their annual pilgrimage back to suburbs

Millions of hummingbirds are fluttering their way back to Illinois after spending most of the winter in the tropical climes of Latin America.

The initial wave of ruby-throated hummingbirds — the only breed indigenous to the U.S. east of the Mississippi River — is expected to arrive in Northern Illinois any day. The males arrive first, followed by the females in the weeks following.

“To me, they’re tiny harbingers of spring,” said Robert Perez, recording secretary of the DuPage Birding Club. “It means winter is past, so the flowers are here and warm weather is right around the corner.”

While robins and red-winged blackbirds arrive earlier, the hummingbirds’ heartier cousins don’t rely on the nectar of blooming flowers that appear when it warms up outside.

“It’s good to get feeders out early though because we get some eager guys showing up a little early on,” said Jamie Viebach, a horticulture educator based in Naperville with the University of Illinois Extension. “They tend to be territorial, so you might want to distribute feeders around your yard to help reduce the competition.”

She also recommends cleaning the feeders every few days so the sugar-water mixture doesn’t ferment. And hummingbirds are nesters, so there’s no need to put up birdhouses to attract them.

While some larger migratory birds including sandhill cranes and pelicans are also stars of the sky this time of year, the annual hummingbird migration is something many homeowners look forward to. That’s because of the uniqueness of the birds and the lack of space most homeowners need to attract them to their yards, experts agree.

“This is beginning to be our busy time of the year,” said Ron Zick, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Arlington Heights and Glenview. “People love hummingbirds because they’re just straight up fascinating. They can fly in any direction and they’re pretty fearless of people.”

They’re definitely not shy, enthusiasts say.

“I had one literally come up to me, look me in the eye, look at the feeder, look back at me and then fly off,” Viebach said. “He came to tell me I needed to fill the feeder.”

Perez said even people who aren’t bird enthusiasts get excited by spotting a hummingbird.

“I’ll go on walks with my non-birding friends and I’ll get excited about some rare warbler I spot, and they really don’t care,” he said. “But a hummingbird goes past, and that’s something everybody gets excited about.”

In addition to feeders, experts suggest a diverse collection of florals also will attract hummingbirds.

“I think people get excited by them because they’re just one of those charismatic species,” said Matt Igleski, executive director of the Chicago Bird Alliance. “They’re little, they zip around and the males have that bright red iridescent throat.”

While the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only one of the nearly 300 varieties native to Northern Illinois, occasionally a vagrant species like a rufous or black-chinned hummingbird will show up and thrill birders.

“These are Western species that zigged when they should have zagged on their way north,” Igleski said.

Hummingbirds come to nest and mate, usually producing two new hummingbirds each visit, experts said.

They stick around throughout the summer and start heading back south once the temperatures begin to cool in the fall.

“They’re just fun to have around, flying like little bomber jets, doing aerial acrobatics,” Viebach said. “You can’t help but smile.”