hummingbirds, swallows and terns

It seems to me that there can be little doubt that we had nesting hummers this year. I've seen them almost every day all summer long, in two distinct areas and, on several occasions, in pairs that appeared to be juveniles. This suggests that there were two nests and that at least one of them successfully produced the standard hummingbird twins (hummingbirds nearly always have two young). We have at least one neighbor on Randall Lane who has a hummingbird feeder but I have never seen a hummer at that feeder although there are hummers in the general area. Perhaps they feed at wildflowers or at the flowers in someone's garden but I've never seen them doing that either!

There was a swatch of swallows overhead this morning and, once again, it was dominated by Rough-winged Swallows although there were also a few Bank and Barn. I did not see a single Tree but there was a possible Cliff Swallow (not easy to be sure about these fast moving aerial speedsters in the early morning light).

The only terns now on the creek are Royal Terns. I don't know what they're catching -- possibly snappers (i.e. Blue Snappers) -- but I saw one with a good-sized fish being pursued by a large juvenile Great Black-backed Gull. Did not see the outcome of that chase but I fear it could not have turned out well for the tern. As to the smaller terns, I supposed they have gone to bivouac somewhere with their fellow terns prior to migration.

Eric Salzman