Ruby (or Ralph) ~ the Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Little did I know what delight would be in store for me when our clothes dryer broke.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird on the clothesline

I'd been wanting to hang a clothesline for a while, but hadn't gotten around to it. Drying clothes outside would be an easy environmental "plus." But when the dryer broke, what sounded like a good idea for sometime became an action for right now.

It wasn't long, though, before the clothesline was used for more than drying clothes. On a whim, I hung one of our hummingbird feeders on the line. That same day, I saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird drink from that feeder...then perch on the line. Soon I began to notice that the hummingbird was there almost every time I looked out the studio window.

I decided to give her a name. Ruby, of course.

Looking at the photos now, though, I realize that Ruby may really be a juvenile male with the colored gorget beginning to come in. So...Ralph. Of course, sometimes I saw more than one hummingbird near the clothesline, so I don't really know if I was looking at young Ruby, or Ralph, or Ruth, or Roy...

But whomever it was, there was almost always a hummingbird around the clothesline...and sometimes with laundry hanging on it as well.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the feeder with socks on the clothesline.

Since that time, I've noticed other birds on the clothesline: Bluebirds, most often. It seems that the taut line is the perfect waiting room for the songbirds wanting a turn in the nearby birdbath, which has become particularly busy during this migratory season.

(Please click the arrow to view the video.) Juvenile Bluebirds, House Finches, and a female Summer Tanager vie for time in the birdbath. The clothesline is to the left of the birdbath, not pictured. Other birds were waiting on the clothesline when I captured this video. This scene was captured on 09.03.25 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

As I write, various Rubys and Ralphs and Ruths and Roys are visiting the hummingbird feeder and fighting for who gets to occupy this apparently-prime real estate. Occasionally they share different ends of the clothesline and take turns at the feeder.

A year ago, the last of the hummingbirds were seen in our yard around the middle-to-end of September. That is only a matter of days or weeks away. I'm going to miss my tiny whirring friends. I'll miss seeing one of them almost every time I look up from this computer screen and out the studio window.

And the clothesline? It's staying. It will be used on sunny days for its original purpose, and hopefully it will continue to be a landing spot for wintering songbirds.

I've read that hummingbirds often return to the exact same location year-after-year. So, perhaps I'll get to see Ruby and Ralph and Ruth and Roy again...

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To view an album of photographs of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that I've captured in our front flower gardens and at other places, please click here.