The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been back at the feeder for about a week—April 29, to be exact—and, more than a little out of sync with their arrival, the bird's favorite source of nectar has started to bloom. Wild columbines are the Ruby-throated's favorite color, an attractive shade of red, and the blossoms have coevolved their intricate shape in concert with the length of the hummer's bill, which is just long enough to reach into the nectar-rich spurs and lap out the sugar-syrup reward with the bird's flexible tongue. I just missed getting a shot of a Ruby-throated at work amidst the columbines, but I'm amassing a nice collection of these iridescent gems at the feeder—just in case the columbines don't provide a photographic reward... beyond, of course, the reward of the flowers themselves.