Spring Shopping Habit - Sugar!

We do not normally consume much sugar so it is usually not on the grocery list.  I am not talking about the sugar that sneaks into nearly every item of packaged or processed food that we purchase.  We try to avoid that but it is difficult.  I am talking about that crystally white stuff that comes in small boxes, paper packages or, for us this time of year, 25 pound bags from Sam's Club.   Boiling 2 quarts of water and mixing it with 2 cups of sugar becomes a part of my daily routine from now through September.  Sound like a drag?  Not at all.  The annual return of our birds is one of the greatest pleasures of living in the country.  Feeding them is a small price to pay for the entertainment they provide.

Our purple martins came back last month right on time.  But they are easy.  All we have to do for them is clean out the house that they vacated last fall.  Purple martins need open space around their house and access to water and nesting materials.  They are very loyal and return to the same house each year unless it is damaged or invaded by other birds. We had so many last year that we feared their 24 room house was too small and added another 12 room house "next door".  We have birds in both houses this year; they were singing happily to us yesterday as we planted cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, corn and carrots. Whew!

What does all this have to do with sugar?  The first of our favorite migratory birds returned yesterday - hummingbirds!  We were sitting on our front porch celebrating a good planting day and watching a rain storm make its way through our little valley.   One of our faithful migratory hummingbirds suddenly appeared in the exact place where a feeder has hung each summer for the last four years.   The feeder was not there yet!  I leaped out of my chair and put on the water to begin my summer routine.  Two feeders went out last night and there are at least a couple of birds here.  Within a couple of weeks, we will have as many as 5 feeders hanging just outside our living room windows and near our deck.  It is impossible to count them as they move so quickly.  But we must have 50 or more that stay around all summer.  We love to watch them fly from feeder to flower and back.  They are amazing little creatures.

So for the next several months, sugar will be on the grocery list and the tea kettle will be whistling - not for us, but for our faithful little hummingbird friends.