The constant hum and chirping noise on Grady Wilson’s back patio in the Mt. Moriah Community is deafening. The source is hummingbirds, by the dozens, if not hundreds, that apparently love his feeders more than most.
On this particular day there’s no fewer than 50 all swarming the nine feeders Wilson has hanging off the edge of his roof.
“We have a lot more than this a lot of the time,” Wilson said. “You just never know each time how many are going to show up.”
Early morning and later in the evening appears to be their popular time to hang out with Wilson on his patio, and they don’t seem to mind his company.
“I can get right up under them and they don’t pay me no attention,” Wilson said. “They’ll come right up to my face.”
Grady Wilson
One of Wilson’s Chocolate Labs, Cocoa, runs across the edge of the patio leaping at a lizard jumping into a flower bed. The hummingbirds don’t let up, continuing to dart from feeder to feeder.
“They’re usually hollering and carrying on a lot more than this,” Wilson said. “They fight over these feeders so they don’t get to eat anything.”
Wilson makes his own feed and goes through more than a gallon a day.
“They seem to like this (sugar water) a lot more than that stuff you by in the store,” he said.
Wilson said he’s been hanging feeders out for 20 years and this year’s large numbers aren’t unusual for his place. His house is somewhat secluded, sitting at the end of a long gravel drive near Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, but obviously not too hard to find for these hummingbirds.
“They love the rainy days. When it’s raining they really carry on out here. It’s something else. So many will be flying around under here they’ll make the wind chimes ring.”
“There’s always something happening around here,” Wilson said. He spoke of some Canadian Geese that get loud nearby early in the morning. “My wife will open the window so we can hear them.”
“I have yellow and purple finches, bluebirds. I sit and watch all of them at times. I counted 21 redbirds out here one day at one time.”
But it’s the hummingbirds he finds most entertaining.
“Amazes me how they stand still, fly backwards and everything else. Lot of people don’t care a thing in the world about them, but I love watching them myself.”