First hummer of the year!

One hummingbird spotted already this year. We have a red-handled emergency pull on our garage door opener. The door was open Thursday because it was (relatively) warm. In flew a hummingbird and tried to get the nectar from the handle. Buzzed and flitted all around it for a couple of minutes. Sadly, no camera in hand to record this.

This is the second year in a row I have been priviledged to see this. According to a local wildlife expert, I am seeing rufous hummingbirds, which used to be west of the Mississippi. They are lately moving eastward, and are occasionally spotted in the winter in the midwest.

Summer time and the hummers are out and about :)

lupinelover, glad to know you had a hummer. It is 99.99% not a Ruby. Probably a Rufous, but others have been documented during the winter where you live. Rubys want be in your area for another couple of months.

larry

Lupine, that is great! Don't you just love seeing them especially when you don't expect it? Maybe you ought to hang a feeder on that handle!

If you want to put out a feeder,put a light bulb under it so it won't freeze.He might come back.

That has to be one cold little hummer! I can't believe with their high metabolisms that they could survive up norht in the winter. What on earth can they eat then???

They eat insects and get sugar from sap from trees. Rufous hummers have been found in all 50 states during the winter months. Even in the coldest parts of the US, insects are plentiful. 60% of a hummers diet is insects.

Larry, don't hit me.... 49 states isn't it? i didn't think they had hummers in hawaii. fred was just telling me they've spotted rufous hummers in alaksa in winter, so mine should be just fine.

I did not realize hummers ate insects. Just goes to prove, as my high school chemistry teacher said, "the more you know, the more you know that you don't know!"

Arlene, I stand corrected. Do not know much about history.
Several winters ago, I had an Allens that spent the entire winter with me. That winter we had 4 inches of snow and temps in the teens. Sugar water in the feeders will freeze when the temp gets below 22 and stays there for several hours. To keep the feeder thawed out I put an outdoor spot light about a foot from it and keep it on day and night. The 1st thing in the morning the Allens hummer would just sit and sip until it warmed up some. It really was great sharing my morning coffee with this hummer.

Larry, what a nice friend to have coffe with in the mornings, makes me smile.

Maybe they especially like my area because more and more of us are growing winter-flowering plants. I haven't seen them visit the erica or snapdragons, but others have seen hummers on their witch-hazel during the winter. They are still very rare here, but more and more people report them. East-ward migration.

I have lots and lots of insects they are welcome to feast on! Lots of woodpeckers in evidence, they are finding many things during this cold winter. Hopefully they are feasting on the gypsy moth eggs and larvae.

Hola ya'll,

I just subbed last nite (twas payday)
and am so glad to find you here!

We were able to build a new home last
winter on our land we have had for 15
years, but, sigh, despite my orders to
the builder, the dozer man dozed almost
every one of my plants babies!

Including some beautiful crape myrtles
that my Mom (RIP) had given us.

My goal is to attract hummers big time,
I know we are in their flight path, but
there is not much around this area (subdivision)
that would hold their attention.

BUt this thread has really encouraged me,
especially about being able to attract more
than just a RT here and there!

What do ya'll suggest that I plant to get the
most bang-for-the-buck the soonest?


Love, Lavanda

Feeders, honest, more than two. Hummers can spot them from a 1/4 mile away. The best hummer plant I have ever found is salvia guarantica(it has bluish-purple flowers). I could send you some in a couple of months if you remind me. Mine blooms from April till Nov. Other plants are almost any salvia, beebalm, honeysuckle, beard tounge, butterfly bushes, hamelia patens, campsis, turks cap, cuphea, most any red tubular flower, bush or vine.

Larry

Lavanda, sorry about those crepe myrtles! the one plant i am going to add this year, bottlebrush. someone recently told me they bloom almost all year, and the hummers sit on them to feed. sounds good to me.
i have sages that start blooming at 1 foot tall and reseed everywhere, and still have some blooming now in protected spots, they grow up like weeds among other plants. if you have flowers they will come, and feeders are really good too. it took my sis 3 years to finally start using a feeder, she kept saying they had enough flowers. finally she realized the neighbor had a feeder up, she put one up to compete.
the feeders to me are like giving them a nice quick place to feed up when they want to, like going out to eat for people. really good when they are traveling and need to get their strength back.

Thanks hummer nut, I will remember to
remind myself to remind you!

;-))

Arlene, as a child our next door neighbor
in the Rio Grande valley of TX, tropical
texas, zone 9 or 10, (according to who
you ask) had bottle-brush and the hummers
would not LEAVE it alone!

They also loved firecracker plant/bush,
but of course those are both tropicals.

And the monarch cats just loved the
passionflower vines.....as a chld I didnt
appreciate them as I should have- they
were just ugly ruisty brown caterpillars
all over the place,

Now one of my dreams is to be able to go
see the monarchs in Mexico in the winter
when they hibernate.

Love, Lavanda

Arlene, both hamelia patens(hummingbird bush) and bottle brush would be two really great hummer plants. I have a couple of different types of hamelia patens, I think there are several 100 varieties growing in the southwest, also some are native to south FL. Bottle brush is not hardy for me, but should be for you. A super hummer plant. I could sent you rooted cuttings later.

Larry

Lavanda, i kind of know what you mean. my kids were mortified at my joy of raising a butterflies in jugs. that's ok, someday it'll be a memory for them. i remember seeing a hummer once as a child, thought that was great.
Larry, i have several plants of the hamelia patents. it seems every plant with mexican in the name grows well here and comes back if frosted down. i have seen bottlebrush in bloom in this area in winter before, have no idea why i don't have one! thanks for the offer, hopefully we can trade something.

Wow, never any winter hummers for us.

It's so hard for me to imagine y'all in Florida and Texas even having a winter. It was four degrees above zero the other night....B-b-b-b--b-b-br!

I'm looking forward to spring and the return of my little hummer buddies. :)

GW, my part of Florida (the panhandle) is actually not really Florida. It is LA - Lower Alabama!

gardenwife, it is very possible if lupinlover has them that you have some in your area also, just haven't seen them. that's what the hummer bander fellow Fred told me anyway. i can't imagine having a feeder out in that cold weather though. my little one spent a lot of time at the feeder this morning, now i guess he is off touring the plants that didn't get frozen back this weekend.

I'd sure love to see them...But I'd feel terrible for them every time I saw them in this bitter cold! So, do they go deeper into a state of torpor, or do they have to really ingest a lot of fuel in order to stay warm and avoid freezing? We have a heated birdbath out front of the house, but we'd have to rig up something like Melody's floodlight heater to keep the hummingbird feeder from freezing.

Gardenwife-

BeLIEVE me, it is COLD enough! (north Texas)

It just changes so fast for cold to hot and back again, that
everyone stays sick with either ca cold of if not a cold, then the allergies hit cuz the plants blossom, thinkin its spring, etc etc etc
ona and on.

And we dont have that delightful snow cover
to keep everything cozy.

I grew up even further south than now, and I really dont know How I would handle more cold than this!

So I wil never move further north, and south TX is too
d- - - hot. So....will have to settle for Mexico!