The hummers have arrived and, for the record, they made it without the help of geese.

Favorites of every homeowner with a backyard of flowers or a porch with a red-accented sugar-water-filled feeder, ruby-throated and black-chinned hummingbirds are returning to Oklahoma.

Likely, strong southerly winds have helped them along as numbers of first-sighting reports started the first of the month but increased noticeably around April 15 and continued this week. To settle an old wive’s tale, the geese had nothing to do with this.

“It’s hard to imagine something that small flying all the way across the Gulf of Mexico and that started an old long-standing rumor that hummingbirds would migrate on the backs of geese or other birds. People just couldn’t believe they could fly across the Gulf by themselves,” said Dan Reinking, a senior biologist at Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville and author of the Oklahoma Breeding Bird Atlas.

Two species of hummingbirds nest in Oklahoma, he said. When in full plumage the black-chinned male has a black chin with a thin strip of iridescent purple on the throat. In poor light or with immature specimens not yet in full color, it can be hard to tell apart from the ruby-throated.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds have a black mask and a brilliant iridescent red throat, but it too can look dark in poor lighting.

Black-chinned hummingbirds are birds of the West and are much more common from Oklahoma City to the West, while ruby-throated hummingbirds are the most common species to the East.

Basically, it’s safe for residents of Grove or Miami to assume most of the hummers in their yards are ruby-throated, while folks out in Enid or Elk City are most likely seeing black-chinned hummers. At points in between, well, look closely and don’t assume. The finer points of identifying one from the other are available in your nearest field guide or by using a mobile app like Merlin or consulting Cornell University’s allaboutbirds.org.

Rufous hummingbirds also visit Oklahoma but don’t nest here. Known for their 2,000-mile migration flights and inhabiting a range from Alaska to Mexico, they are most often seen in western Oklahoma during the fall migration, but not so common in spring, Reinking said.

Other hummingbirds that stop by, but rarely, include Anna’s and Allen’s, both most common in the Western U.S., he said.

Wherever they’re from, people do enjoy watching them and hummingbird feeders pop up hanging from eves and porch overhangs each spring like early spring flowers.

Enthusiasts and experts advise cleaning feeders weekly and using a mixture of one cup of plain white granulated sugar dissolved into four cups of boiling water. No other additives or red dye are necessary.

Male hummingbirds can be territorial, so it’s a good idea to separate feeders, maybe with one on each side of the house, so one bird can’t dominate over all the feeders at one time, Reinking said.

“The best tip I can give to attract hummingbirds to your yard is to talk to your garden center about flowers hummingbirds like,” he said. “Native plants are best.”

The birds nest from May through July in Oklahoma, according to the Breeding Bird Atlas. Each tiny nest is covered on the outside with lichens and spider webs. The females lay two eggs. Occasionally, a female that gets an early start on her first nest might attempt a second brood, he said.

Nectar is not what the birds need for their chicks, however, the little ones start off needing protein the adults collect in the form of small insects and spiders.

“And sometimes that works the other way too if you’ve ever seen a hummer caught in a spider web,” Reinking said.