If you haven’t been treated to the buzz of a flyby, you will be soon.

The hummingbirds are back.

As is the longtime Hummingbird Festival, held annually at the Starsmore Nature and Visitor Center in North Cheyenne Cañon Park. Started in the 1990s, the free event has only missed a few years, due to the pandemic. It happens on Saturday.

“They’re just so interesting,” said Becky Wegner, president of the Friends of Cheyenne Cañon, which puts on the festival with the Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department. “How they fly and can hover, and you can watch them at your feeders. And they’re so small, and fly so far. They’re beautiful birds.”

The family-friendly event is a wealth of bird information. In addition to the tiny hummers that will surely be buzzing around the Starsmore building, the Raptor Center in Pueblo will bring owls, hawks and peregrine falcons. There will be hummingbird talks, an afternoon guided bird hike, face painting and crafts for kids, poetry and art by Mark Cooney, live music by John Spengler, birding expert Joe LaFleur, and a food truck.

Birds are back in town

You bet they are, and they’re early. Usually, we get the first ones around mid-April. This year, likely due to the warm winter and spring, they arrived in early April, Wegner says.

Are they going to be OK?

Yes. But on cold days, they eat a lot more, as it takes energy to stay warm. So get those feeders out already.

How can we help them?

Provide nectar, especially if it isn’t abundant on flowering shrubs. If flowers get frozen, they have less natural nectar to go after.

Homemade or store-bought food?

Don’t be lazy. Concoct fresh nectar for the tiny guys and gals. It’s one part sugar to four parts boiling water. Don’t add artificial coloring. Let it cool and fill your feeders, which hopefully have red or some other bright color on them to attract the hummingbirds.

Who are these little characters, anyway?

The Pikes Peak region sees broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds, and sometimes calliopes. The broad-tailed birds are the first to arrive from Mexico and South America. The rufous arrive in June or July, as they have much further to travel, flying from Mexico to California and then Colorado, Wegner says.

Those silly boys

When you hear a hummingbird buzz by, it’s a male. They’re the sex behind the loud buzzing, chirping and singing, as they try to attract a lady friend. And if you see one skyrocket into the air, then swoop low to the ground before pulling up, that’s also a dude showing off for the females.

If you go

What: Hummingbird Festival

When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Starsmore Nature and Visitor Center, 2120 S. Cheyenne Cañon Road

Price: Free; 719-385-6086, cheyennecanon.org/visitor-centers