2014 Ruby-Throat Hummingbird Migration

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

Here they come!

I for one am practically 'humming' with excitement! just got my feeders out of the winter storage box for cleaning. We had a very cold winter, but almost all my perennial hummer plants made it thru and are just now showing themselves.

Glad to hear you plants survived. Too soon to know here what made it. But I'm hoping with all the snow cover that I had some good insulation.

So soon, Mrs Ed. Fantastic!

I am really hoping my cannas made it. Hummingbirds really like them. I dont know the variety, but they have a bronze-y cast to some leaves and some are true green, but the flowers are not at all showy compared to most of the cannas you see. These flowers are reddish orange and pointy. I was able to collect seeds last year, just in case. Only time will tell. I just wish it would hurry up!

My first hummer passed through 10 days ago. This one seems to be here to stay.

Yay Frank!

Ooooooh so exciting! And what a handsome earlybird he is!

Impatiently awaiting their arrival here. ;-)

Cville, You and I go thru it together, just like last year. Peering out the window at the feeder....toe tapping, waiting....waiting....**sigh!**
There are some trees in flower so hopefully they are going to be here soon. there is a funny time between the early flowerers and the regular flowers when there is hardly anything in flower, so I want the hummers to come on so they will get used to the feeders.

You are so right. I have forsythia blooming in the yard right now and that's it. Except for the hellebores and some wild violets ... and the henbit. :)

Wow...Congrats on your first Hummers of the season!!

I've been watching the migration map for about a month. Last year they looked to be super-early, but it turned out to be just an early group of hummers. The rest were on a more normal schedule, many even later than normal. It was eventually explained on Hummingbirds.net because that early group caught a lot of people by surprise (me included).

In the meantime I'll be waiting...waiting...waiting...

Here natural woods have many things blooming. It is a shame that when those woods are clear cut and planted all in pines very little of those blooming things survive.

Oh Boy! don't get me started about the stupidness of clearing woods and the relentless bushhogging of the roadsides. Everybody Loves Nature, but poor Nature doesn't stand a chance against 'em.
Next door to me is an abandoned trailer and a nice little acre or so of woods behind it. Recently this plot has gone up for sale and I am terrified that someone will buy it and that will be the end of "my" woods. I see so much wildlife in it. There is also a nice little creek(drainage ditch) that runs behind all the homes around this area and it too supports countless critters and plantlife. 2 houses up, they dont want to see this unsightly stuff and drench both sides of the bank with Roundup. Sadly, it runs beyond just their property. So,. it is a big unsightly brown gash. It used to be full of wild cardinal flower, with hummingbirds dipping in. Now, I don't want to be a self righteous jerk, but Jeez, If folks would stop for 5 mins and look around, there are so many things to enjoy right under our feet!
Oops, I did get started. Thats enough. I am going to go peer out the window for hummers.

Broad-tailed Hummingbirds come through here the last week or two of April. I can hear them zinging straight North, they usually don't stop for my feeders - but I hang them out anyway just in case. I am out on the Prairie, but to the West in the Mountains they will stop for the summer. At that time of year at 9000 feet there is nothing - I repeat nothing - in bloom. The trees, especially the oak, have leaf buds - and the oak is where the Hummingbirds seem to congregate. I am pretty sure they are leaving off sap from the leaf buds. Here, Oak is a large shrub on South-facing slopes. The southern exposure helps them get through the nights, which will drop down to freezing into June at that elevation.

Pollengarden, how interesting! Have you ever seen them in groups on these oak shrubs? Too bad they don't drop in at your place for a sip on the way. Ha ha, "Welcome, Hummers, to Pollengarden's
Sip 'n' Zip. Great Nectar, Quick service, Clean restrooms. We're on the Way!"

I do get hummingbirds here but later, late May - peaking end of July to early August. In good years I get 4 types:
Black-chinned (they nest somewhere around here)
Broad-tailed (prefer mountains but get this far east - last to leave in fall)
Calliope (really tiny! more common north west part of Colorado)
and Rufous (males only & only for about 2 weeks - I didn't see any in 2013)

Put up my feeders yesterday. Map shows them all around me, but none here so far. Azaleas aren't blooming yet. They usually come about the same time as the azaleas flowers open. I have very few buds showing cause of the cold March. Now we've been over 80 degrees! sheesh...

This one has staked his claim daring any others to drink from his feeders.

Oh, those are good! Plucky little things, aren't they?

Scarletbean I wish more people would get started and educate the public about what nature has to offer. My store sells most of the plants that can be found in backyard woods. If people would only look at what they already have. In my walks through the woods in the last couple of weeks I have been enjoying the carolina jasmin, wild fruits and redbuds. Now the dogwood and huckleberry has started blooming. Soon the magnolias will be blooming. Each day is a discovery.

Saw a very skinny male at my feeder! Didn't stay long enough to get a picture.

I am enjoying the hummers daily.

This little female took her time and waited till the dominate male was chasing another male away from the feeders then took her turn at the feeder.

Still waiting here ... tap, tap, tap, tap.

Yeah! I finally got a picture on this rainy morning. We have been seeing one, and now three hummers at the feeders. This little guy was resting on the vine. I have always wanted to get a picture of one that is not on a feeder!

That is beautiful, Julie.

Great pic Julie. It is so hard to catch them at rest anywhere!

Still waiting also. **sigh**

Still waiting here too.....

WooooHooo! Finally! First rubythroat of the season. I changed my feeders yesterday evening, and lo and behold one showed up this morning. YAY!!! He didn't stay long, but he was about 2 feet from my face. I am so happy!
Cville, here they come.

Mine (RTHummingbirds) are here to stay! I was on vacation the last week of March-first week of April. When I came home and was buzzed by the sound of their presents in the garden. Promptly I put up a feeder on my Clematis trellis. Tada! Since then I saw them zipping around, but I wasn't able to capture any pics. just yet.

Llove, what a pretty little scene! Where'd u get the feeder? Is it easy to clean?

Scarletbean, thanks. It has been awhile since I bought the feeder. I wanted to say from Home Depot but not sure. It's difficult to clean, the openings are roughly a thump size, to put a sponge inside to scrub the interior is not fun. The key issue for me is to clean it often so I don't have to do extensive scrubbing lol. I think I got pics. of both a female at first then a male later in the day. I've to search my camera for the pics. :((

MrsEd,

I saw my first hummingbird today! I was able to get some pictures, but they didn't turn out very good. Just wanted to give you a head's up...They're on the way to your house!

Rose

Yay! feeders have been ready for a week.

Since I saw my first hummer, I have not seen another. This happened last year, afew early birds, then nobody for a long time. Then all of a sudden, hummingbirds everywhere. In 2012, they came all at once. Still keeping feeders fresh and my eyes open.

Hmmm ... none here yet either.

Ha! just happened to look out at the feeder in the front yard, and a hummer was drinking pretty enthusiastically! Hummingbird sighting #2, Yay!

Cville, would you like me to post a map to your house on the tree near my feeder? They will come soon. I know because my MajorWheeler honeysuckle(Is this Cape Honeysuckle?) is blooming, and yours is too, right? this always is the harbinger of Hums to come.

We have three at the moment. One female and two males. Of course, the two males chase each other around...while the female enjoys her lunch ;-)