Keeping the little buzz birds fed has not been easy this week because we got about a foot of snow and the daytime temperatures did not rise above freezing (yesterday it barely topped twenty degrees), because the feeders froze up every hour or so. I brought them in at night to warm them up for the next morning’s feeding.

This morning, I put out the hummingbird feeders at dawn with a heavy heart, because the temperature had dropped to nine degrees Fahrenheit and I feared the little beauties had not survived the bitterly cold night. But I saw the first male Anna’s at the feeder outside my office window at dawn, while it was still too dark to take photos. 

At 08:30, he perched on a branch, preening, and two females sat on the feeder outside the living room window, snuggled up and feeding from the same hole. Which was highly unusual since they don’t normally like to share feeders, much less nectar tubes.

The temperature has risen to twenty-two degrees and, so far, I’ve had to thaw the nectar only once. We’re expecting another winter storm this afternoon, and I’m not sure I’ll still have hummingbirds in my garden tomorrow morning. But I’ll put out the feeders and hope for the best.