Slow To Hum

The thermometer at night is still hovering unseasonably somewhere in the mid-40s, but the cool weather seems not to have slowed the arrival of the hummers. Not that there are all that many of them as yet on the South Fork - they are more common, apparently, in warmer climes, such as Beverly Hills - but reports come trickling in steadily. It's that time of year.

Two purplish ones were spotted whirring around Hither Hills in Montauk a week ago, and another, with an iridescent body and a green hood, was spotted at the border of East Hampton and Amagansett at Hampton Mews. Unlike others of their species, they usually travel singly rather than in flocks.

They are distinctive in appearance; entirely different, in fact, from the rest of their kind. Watch them taking in fuel, for example. They consume an enormous amount, relative to their size. It's a sight to behold.

We are talking about hummingbirds, of course. But you knew that.