We have Humming birds again!!!

[Steve85569]

Sorry, No pictures yet. Jan won't let me have the camera until she's tired of taking snapshots of the first pair of the year here.
I know it's nothing new for you southerners but for us it's a good sign that spring is finally here.
We'll have 7 or 8 feeders up in no time. Right now it's only 2 big ones.

 

[HowieRoll]

7 or 8 feeders? Holy smokes, how many do you usually get?!

I used to only put one up, but last season definitely had to add a second and they still kept me hoppin'. This year I'm eyeing the BIG bag of sugar from Costco...

Congrats on your spring arrivals!

 

[Susie]

We can't put up feeders, the bees take them over. I am jealous of you being able to. But enjoy them!

 

[CaraBou]

We're still waiting for ours. I hope they wait until it warms up more -- it's still consistently a little chilly.

 

[Nao]

Last year I was outside in the evening repotting tomato plants and I noticed a couple of hummingbirds flying around, witch was weird since we don't usually have hummingbirds in this part of the world. Turns out it was a kind of moth that looks like hummingbirds!

 

[navigator9]

Last year I was outside in the evening repotting tomato plants and I noticed a couple of hummingbirds flying around, witch was weird since we don't usually have hummingbirds in this part of the world. Turns out it was a kind of moth that looks like hummingbirds!

Hummingbird moths are fascinating. The first time I saw one was at a local nursery. I heard a whirring noise and looked at what I thought was a hummingbird. One of the nurserymen saw me and said, "That hummingbird moth has been hanging around all morning, because of all the flowers." I went home and looked it up, and it's easy to see why they're confused for hummingbirds. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYLtpqkMSvU[/ame]

 

[Barbsbreakingbath]

Bee resistant feeders

We can't put up feeders, the bees take them over. I am jealous of you being able to. But enjoy them!

I've found that there are a number of almost bee proof feeders (I don't think anything is totally bee proof) out there, but they are more pricey and not usually found in home and garden stores.
My favorite is Songbird Essentials Dr JB's Clean Feeder. Amazon has it but I'm sure it's cheaper elsewhere. You can also clean it by putting it in the top rack of your dishwasher, which is great.
This is a picture of the little guys enjoying "happy hour" (different feeder)

 

[Steve85569]

7 or 8 feeders? Holy smokes, how many do you usually get?!

I used to only put one up, but last season definitely had to add a second and they still kept me hoppin'. This year I'm eyeing the BIG bag of sugar from Costco...

Congrats on your spring arrivals!

My avatar is just a small part of our back yard. The part around the house covers 2 acres and there is a river on the far side of the yard. We have families nest every year. The house and deck have feeders every 10 or 12 feet so the different groups don't fight ( as much).

It's one of our hobbies to watch the wild life on our private reserve with the hummers being the small ones and the white tail deer being the big ones.

The moths aren't apparent to us until after the fall migration but we do see them every fall. And dragon flies in the yard. We usually see them in the woods by the river but they also come up in the fall bugging.

The only down side to all the wild life we encourage is the need to fence every garden very high and tight low. Raccoons are good at finding spots to sneak in.

 

[Steve85569]

Oh yeah I forgot. Cash and Carry trips for the really big bags of sugar. We use half gallon canning jars to store the stuff and there's always at least a pint of "juice" in the fridge from now until late fall.

We had one Anna's stay until Christmas last year. In the SNOW!

 

[HowieRoll]

My avatar is just a small part of our back yard. The part around the house covers 2 acres and there is a river on the far side of the yard. We have families nest every year. The house and deck have feeders every 10 or 12 feet so the different groups don't fight ( as much).

It's one of our hobbies to watch the wild life on our private reserve with the hummers being the small ones and the white tail deer being the big ones.

The moths aren't apparent to us until after the fall migration but we do see them every fall. And dragon flies in the yard. We usually see them in the woods by the river but they also come up in the fall bugging.

The only down side to all the wild life we encourage is the need to fence every garden very high and tight low. Raccoons are good at finding spots to sneak in.

That's awesome you have a private wildlife reserve. It's fun, isn't it? We're lucky to live on a chunk of land in a rural area that also abuts state forest property, so have a large cast of characters come through. Never a dull moment!

As for the hummers, this summer if I start to complain to myself about having make/serve up so much food to our two feeders, I'm going to remind myself of all your feeders and then tell myself to put a lid on it.

 

[beardguy]

You are so lucky. We had 15 cm of snow today

We do have a lot of beautiful deers who practically live in our yard, but they destroy their fair share of plants and trees every year, so it's a wash.

 

[SaltedFig]

They are surprisingly shiny. Do they sing? (I've never seen one in real life).

 

[Misschief]

I never know when to put my feeder up. We don't see a lot of hummingbirds but we have seen a few over the years.

 

[Nao]

Hummingbird moths are fascinating. The first time I saw one was at a local nursery. I heard a whirring noise and looked at what I thought was a hummingbird. One of the nurserymen saw me and said, "That hummingbird moth has been hanging around all morning, because of all the flowers." I went home and looked it up, and it's easy to see why they're confused for hummingbirds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYLtpqkMSvU

Right! When I was looking them up last year I came across a blogpost with someone being abel to catch and pet one without problems. At least that one wasn't scared of people's at all.

 

[CaraBou]

Steve, we got our first hb today! We're in western MT. It zipped fast when we weren't paying attention, so not sure what it was. We put the feeders up this eve, maybe we'll know tomorrow. But it's supposed to rain and I'm gone next week so maybe not

SaltedFig, hummingbirds don't sing. They mostly chirp, and they can also make trill noises with their tails. They're very cool to watch -- hope you get to some day! What part of the world are you in that you haven't already?

 

[SaltedFig]

SaltedFig, hummingbirds don't sing. They mostly chirp, and they can also make trill noises with their tails. They're very cool to watch -- hope you get to some day! What part of the world are you in that you haven't already?

Thanks

One day ... that would be sweet.

In Australia we have fairy wrens that zip about the place in chattery family flocks - your hummingbirds remind me a little of them (but not with the hovering - that is pretty amazing).

 

[Steve85569]

I never know when to put my feeder up. We don't see a lot of hummingbirds but we have seen a few over the years.

Now would be just about right to put feeders up where you are. The migration north is on.

" Steve, we got our first hb today! We're in western MT. It zipped fast when we weren't paying attention, so not sure what it was. We put the feeders up this eve, maybe we'll know tomorrow. But it's supposed to rain and I'm gone next week so maybe not

"

I would bet it's either Calliope, an Anna's or a Rufus. They are the first ones through every year. We are now starting to see the Blackchins that are the ones that stay and nest here. We also have a few Rufus that like the trees.

"They are surprisingly shiny. Do they sing? (I've never seen one in real life)."

They make several different chipping noises but no real "song". The male Blackchins do a mating "U" shaped flight and make a whistling noise near the bottom of the "U".
Male Rufus "chime" with their wings.
We often hear the little things before we see them since we now know the chipping calls they make.

We have file photos of Jan hand feeding them. I'll post a couple of them now. Black chins...


I owe you some pictures - I'll sneak the camera away from Jan today.

 

[Saranac]

Awesome photos!

The HBs don't show up here until the 15th of May (give or take a day or two). We closed on our home May 14th 2009. Since it was such a long process (4 months), and we were so excited that the house was ours, we decided to stay the night--with no electricity, running water, or furniture; just a couple of sleeping bags. Anyway, the next morning we were standing in the large living room picture window and a HB flew right up to the glass. We went out onto the porch and sure enough, there was a hook hanging in the ceiling--obviously for a feeder. We drove down to the hardware store that morning and picked out a feeder; it was the first thing we bought for the house. Every year we get to celebrate that anniversary with the HBs. They're remarkable animals, especially when you consider that our home had been empty for over 7 years. Even after all that time, they still knew to check things out!

 

[navigator9]

Hummingbirds seem quite daring for their size. Here's a story about a guy who rescue a baby hummingbird, and then had the mom come to feed it from his hand, in his office window. http://dailypicksandflicks.com/2013/08/22/mom-hummingbird-feeds-her-baby-in-guy’s-hand-video/

 

[PrimDawg]

I've been so busy I got behind on getting my feeders out. On Sunday I went out in the front yard to start a sprinkler and got buzzed by a hummer. I was being disciplined for my slack behavior. I went right in and mixed up an 8 cup batch. Got it cooled and had 6 feeders up and full in no time. I barely got back in the house before I heard my husband yelling from the kitchen that we already had 2 hummers at the feeders.