The return of hummingbirds to southern Wisconsin is one of spring’s smallest but most welcome signs, and New Glarus residents likely will not have to wait much longer. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, the only hummingbird species that regularly nests in Wisconsin, typically begin showing up in this part of the state in late April and early May, with males often arriving first.

For people who watch feeders or keep flower gardens, their arrival can feel sudden. One day the yard is quiet, and the next a tiny green blur is hovering near a porch basket or darting through the trees after a journey that, for some birds, included a nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico.