Do you know where your hummers are?

: ) Somebody is missing 5 of their's for sure. Today was a totally awesome day and I almost missed it. I have three hummers this year and this afternoon I was tryign to get some transplantign done and they hummers were fussing cuz I was near their feeder.

I stood back to have a talk with them about how they have to be nice and share the space with me for a little bit and the next thing I knew I thought I was seeing crazy.

Checked, yep, had my glasse s on. There was four hummers, and then five and they all kept comign til I had eight of them all flyign aroudn the feeder and plants like crazy. : ) : ) I froze and just stared and stared and stared. : )

They must have migrated in from somewhere. What amazed me is when they would keep my guys busy and back from the feeder runnign replay the other ones would drink and then switch position. They stayed for almost an hour the new kids and I haven't seen them since. Was worried cuz I didn't see my regular guys and wondere d if they had decided to follow the new kids, but nope after awhile I heard mine chripping.

This is the first I ever had some come through on a migration heading back. How long do they normally hang around. I was hopign they woudl stay here until this evening cuz have lot s f small insects for them to feed on. Would have given them some protein.

While I was so happy to se e them, and they had relly bright green backs where mine don't, I do feel sad for whoever had them and they no longer eatign at your house. : (

But if ya don't know wher e your hummers are tonight, ya know they was down here. : )

yep ...... they are definately fun to watch .....they spend so much time fussin' and feudin' that if they just bellied up to the feeder they could gorge themselves silly !!

Congratulations. I think two of them are mine, nick named, 'Squeak' and 'Tweek'. It's been chilly in Maryland all week. I thought they might have migrated. I still have one hanging out at my feeder. I nicknamed her (or him), Meek. I miss them already. I look forward to their return next year.

Great shot Crystal. And I know how you feel starlight. Everytime I see one nectaring on my plants or just buzzing around the yard I just stand still like a stone. I cannot help it. I just stand there getting mosquito bit watching because it is always such a thrill. I love hearing them chirp around also. I was weeding the other day and heard the chirp, chirp and looked around and the little guy was nectaring on my fire bush. It was about four feet away from me. So I just sat there like a stump watching until he flew away. It was such a thrill for me. I wonder if they know what a thrill they give us human folks? Congrats on seeing eight at one time. I would probably fall over if that ever happened and miss the whole show. LOL.

Leslie

was looking thru my latest pics of my hummers and thought that thjis pic was different ,,,,

and ..................

You all are so right. LOL : ) I have gotten so much less done outside this year because of the hummers. I get my coffee and head out and end up spending an hour or two just sitting there like a statue while I wacth the little fellows fly back and forth for a drink, or dive at each other. Then I have to warch them sittign inthe tree branches, so I can make sure I don't trim those branche s back or disturb them incase they wanna use those areas for breeding.

I end up watchign them groom themselves and watching their little heads moving aroudn like crazy like they on patrol. By the time I do all that , two or thre e hours can have passe d by and work is not gettign done, but them I figure what's the popint of having all the plants and the feeders if you don't stop stop and enjoy the critters. When I think of that then I feel justified in the amoutn of work time I lose everyday. ; )

The other day I actually got to see two of mine finally drink at the same time, figure it must be a momma and a baby. First time though it was allowed and then they both sat together for a couple minute a few inches from each other on the wire that the feeder hangs from. That was a first and haven't seen it repeated.

Leslie.... Do you happen to have a scientific name for fire bush. I don't know what that is, but if they like your bushes, maybe it would grow here. I feel bad cuz aboput the only thing I have left is some Bacl and Blue Salvia and a few late blooming cannas left for nectar. The hibiscus just finally quit with the colder weather now.

Beautiful pics Jataylor and Crystal... Wish I had some pics to be able to look back at over the winter, but stil have not been able to get the first decent pic.

LOL Crystal... What cute names for your hummers. : ) Hopefully mine wil come back next year and I'll have to think about giving them some names. It is gonna be hard to se e them go when they do.

I'm wonderign if I should put up a coupel of extra feeders just for those that might be migrating through and put them further to the back of the yard away from the regular feeders.

I can help you starlight. I happen to have the little plant identifier thingy that they put in those plants when you buy them. Actually down here in Texas we have a college called Texas A & M. You may have heard of it. It is kind of an agricultural type college. Anyway they are my rivals because I went to Texas Tech. But I digress. They come out with certain plants a year that are considered a Texas Superstar plant. These are plants that grow in a lot of places but they have decided are great perennials for here in Texas as our weather is not always so great. I happened to notice that this plant was one of their Texas Superstars so I bought a couple. I mean it can't hurt when you have a whole college backing a plant right? Anyway It says Firebush Coralillo but when I looked it up on the internet the name I found it mostly under was Hamelia Patens. So try those and see if you don't come up with a perennial with reddish tubular flowers all over it and you have the right plant. My hummer really loves it but I think would love it more if it was a little bigger and more established. Good luck with that. And oh I would love to see a mother and baby feeding together. That would be so awesome.

Great pics James. That feeder looks pretty high but I am sure it is just the angle. I have always wondered if altitude had anything to do with getting more hummers.

Leslie

Starlight, I know exactly what you mean about meaning to work in the garden and getting overwhelmed by the activity of the Hummers. I still say that they remind of the Keystone Cops...LOL. There have been a lot of hummers passing through here to migrate to Mexico and Central America recently. Luckily, we have a couple of kinds that stay all year around here in the Inland Empire.

Great photos, JATaylor and Crystall!!

Thanks,

Chuck


This message was edited Sep 20, 2007 8:45 PM

[quote]I still say that they remind of the Keystone Cops...LOL.[qoute/]

Chuck,
they do don't they ......chasing one another around .......... I like it when they do what I call the snake dance around the feeder ......... you know what I am talking about?

they hover at one another and circle around each other like to boxers do one another!!

mine have been kind of scarce as well.

SSSSOOOO I looked here and didn't find them !!

This message was edited Sep 21, 2007 5:57 AM

and here ..........

and here ........... oh well somebodys from up north will be here soon!!

james t

Leslie.. Thanks for the name. Gonan se e abotu gettign me some of them plants and that way my baies wil have some more food and maybe somebody passing through will prefer to have it instead of whats on the normal nectar yard buffet. :

Chuck... LOL That so funny and yet so right. They are exactly like that. I spent an hour sittign and watching mine after I changed and cleaned the feeders. That means an extra hour battling the sketter s tonight , but it so worth it. : )

Mine must have been lazy this morning, cuz they was actually sitting for longer periods of time drinking this morning and whiel chasing each othe r of f they didn't zip and zap around, they kinda did fake out jobs in slow motion. Now that it warming up a bit they are too.

I know I definately gonan do like somebody suggeste d and leave the feeders up for most of the winter, as long as they don't freeze.

I feel bad cuz alot of birds are migratign and now we got storms again coming, hope the little fellows can make it hrough unscathed.

Awwwwww. James. Hoep ya get soem soon especially since ya got some pretty blooms going on. : )

No problem Starlight. I have also noticed mine sitting on the feeder more while drinking than just buzzing around it. I guess maybe they are getting fat and a little heavy or something. Or maybe just after a long summer of buzzing around they are just dog tired. I know I would be.

Great pics James. My firebush blooms do not look quite like that. They do not change color at the end. At least not yet, like I said they are very new plants. But those are some beautiful pics you took.

Leslie

thanks Leslie ........ this weekend I will show you how i trim my esperanza to grow bushier and put new blooms on ....

I wish you had some pics of your esperanza to post ....... I have some pics of my firebush that I will post this weekend as well .......

jt

You should see my GF butterflies try to chase the hummers away! So funny! Those butterflies think they own my yard...very territorial. Some days there's so many things flying around here I could use air traffic control to keep them away from each other.

Hey.....all you Hummer lovers out there. Just wanted to say I'm enjoying following the posts here, and the photos are just great!

We had a good summer here in South Jersey for our Hummers. It's always such a treat seeing the first one arrive in late Spring, and my husband & I just hate to see them head off down South in the Fall.

Two weeks ago, we were sure our little "gang" had hit the great highway in the sky, as there were no takers at the feeders for about two weeks. Still, I persisted in keeping the feeders going, just in case some "migrants" might want to stop for a quick snack. Now, all of a sudden, we have another Hummer visiting the feeder everyday. Don't know if she's one of the earlier ones who were with us this Summer, or if she was just passing through and decided to spend a few days. Either way, she's very welcome all the same.

Rose Mary

Good for you Rose Mary. I know I am dreading the loss of my hummers when they leave. I am enjoying them so much. Mine is hanging around the feeder still but resting on it a lot more than drinking now.

Linda how cool is that to have so many GF's in your yard. I miss mine as once they eclosed and I set them free they have yet to return to say hi.

Leslie

same here ........... i saw one female yesterday morning ........she was at the front feeder .......and she hit the trail as soon as she saw my movement........my old bunch would pay me no attention :o) .............i likewise am going to keep my feeder going as well !!!!

Howdy RoseMary!

I never thought about them getting fat and sassy, no wonde r they moving in slow motion and starting to act like they been takign some chill pills.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think all of my hummers have migrated. I will really miss them. I really enjoyed their company all summer. I am really looking forward to next year. Meanwhile, the cool weather has really had a great impact on my humming bird-butterfly garden (I think they are gone too, not even a monarch in the area). Hopefully a few NJ hummers will stop by for a bit on their way south!! :)

This is the evil hummer of my backyard, he thinks all the feeders are his. He works all day at keeping all the others away. He has gotten so good at fighting that he has this other hummer pinned down with his feet. The other hummers head is being mushed into the ground, when I yelled at him to play nice, he let him up.

chris

oh now he is a bully !!! that is ridiculous, there is enough for everyone. lol, my Anna's hummers are the same way, flying at eachother to get them out of the yard, but I've never seen hummers wrestling b4 ! lol

Oh wow!!!!!!! I have seen them go at each other in the air, but never seen one on the ground like that before. Thanks for sharing that phot, lets ya learn somethign new about these guys everyday.

Linda Tx. .. for real??????? I always thought butterflies was chickens. Every time I try and get close to get a pic of mine they always go flying off.

I hoping I can try and figure out how to get a pic of my hummers before they leave. I'd liek to be able to match it up to next year and see if I get any if they the same ones.

Strange a s it may seen I still have this one variety of columbine s out still blooming away and it is the end of september, so I still got a little bit of blooms for mine. My last Canna has done it's thign for the year. I thinkign about cutting the stalk off an dmaybe giving the plants some bloom buster and seeing if I can't get them to throw up another stalk or two yet for the hummers.

Well I am here in Raleigh, NC and I saw what I believe to be one of the last ones - a little female hummer- on Sunday. I have not seen her since. It is so sad when they leave us for the tropics!! I wish I could go with them!!
Cant wait until next year!!

Awwwwwww I feel for ya. I'm missing one of mine. Not sure if it was the first one that arrived or the second, but it the one without the baby.

Maybe yours wil stop by here and streach its wings, savor some nectar and chrip and have a friendly chat for a day or two. : )

I thought my 3 hummers were gone, but today I have a female buzzing around............kind of late?

It's cool to hear there are still some up your way! They usually only migrate through here. I have still 5-6 at a time staying for a few days and then heading out. I try to learn them by their habits so I can tell when they leave and a new batch comes in. I had one lone mature male RT for two days - they let him have the front yard feeder to himself - I never saw a fight! This evening I didn't see him - so maybe he's headed south. The rest are either females or immature males and they are duking it out over the other two feeders. I put up the ones with 8 ports each - so they have lots of room. At dusk, they give up the fighting and share like they were friends!

Indy-- a little late for your HB visitor, but we have had them migrating through here up until mid October. Our population has definately thinned out, though.

It sounds like from the posters here that most of our HBs made it south,though!

I hope some more make the detour through here. Just went out again today to change the feeders. Stil changign them every thre e days, but am only fllign them halfful now since the mad dash is over and they just seem to be wettign their whistes now.

The migrating hummers are not coming very much anymore for the last couple of days. However, the Dominant Male (or Boss) , a couple of hummer hens and some immature hummers are still around. I hope they stay all this year like last year. I will try to keep the feeders full during the winter...LOL.

Have a good weekend!!

Thanks,

Chuck

Mine are gone for the most part...they were as thick as a hive of bees just a couple of weeks ago. I've taken my feeders down, but there's still plenty of plant material for the stragglers. I just got tired of maintaining them...during peak migration, they drained two, 32 oz feeders every 24 hours...that's a lot of sugar water.

I got a question? If the , think somebody calle d them immatures, don't leave with Momma, wil they still know which way to travel and how to go?

It looks like everybody gone but my baby. it still out there chirping, doesn't coem to the feeder much, and is startign to travel a bit further from where it always hung out, but I worry it may not know where to go without another hummer for it to follow.

The other day, I heard it chirping for alogn time through the trees, like it was trying to call the others , but never got an answer since they gone.

Ruby Throat hummingbirds are fully grown when they leave the nest. There are no fledglings or 'baby' ones that one will see flying. The only thing they do not have is that the males do not get their red throat till the winter in Central America. Juveniles are just as mature as the parents...they just don't have a migration behind them.

They are solitary birds, and will fly south on instinct alone...they are not like the whooping cranes who have to be shown the way. They may head out in what looks like flocks or groups, but it's simply a bunch of individuals heading in the same general direction....nothing else.

I wouldn't worry about the straggler....he or she will head south when it's good and ready....it has something to do with the angle of sunlight....they know which way to head.

Dear Melody,

Thanks for the answer on the question of migration. I tried last night to google 'Hummingbird Migration', but the sites that came up were not really helpful (maybe it was a bad time to access sites).

I am sorry about the confusion of what I meant about immatures. I just meant a couple of hummers that hatched this year that I didn't know if they were male or female. I wasn't referring to Ruby Throated Hummers as I have heard that we don't have any in our area. I have heard that we have Anna's Hummingbirds instead. If this is wrong, please tell me. The Anna's Hummingbirds are the ones who migrate, I believe. Have I got them mixed up again?

Everybody have a NICE DAY!!

Thanks,

Chuck

Our Anna's stay put here in Oregon ??? Let's wait for Melody's expertise again lol - she'll probably tell me I have a different hummer here !!!

My areas of hummer info mainly pertains to the Ruby Throat, as they're about the only ones that ever venture east of the Mississippi River, but here's what I know about Anna's.

Anna's don't actually migrate, but tend to live in the California/Oregon/Arizona/Mexico area. Unlike most hummers, they breed in winter and early spring.They are the only hummingbird that actually sings...sort of a squeaky little song when perched, and a chattering chirp when feeding.

They may move around a bit, and may actually 'migrate' from the most northern and southern areas of their range, so folks in Oregon and Arizona may have times when they aren't around, but they haven't gone far. They're mainly hanging out in California.

ok, Anna's it is for me - I did have one stay in my backyard all winter '06 - he'd just sit there in the apple tree guarding his nectar/feeder. I have 3 feeders I'll put up this year, all on different sides; maybe I'll be lucky enough to have a few stay here as their home base. **He looked cold sitting there in the snow, but obviously was fine.

and yes, they do chirp alot, at eachother and the humans that venture out into "their" yard.

Starlight, I have been following this thread and find it interesting. I had 3 hummers this year, maybe more but never counted more than 3 at one time. (at our previous home, I had as many as 8 hummers.) I read in an article on hummingbirds that you should stop feeding them in the fall so they will go ahead and migrate. If there is food around for them (other than in flowers) then they will hang around and the cold weather can kill them. So-o-o-o, I took down my feeders a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of cold weather in about a month and guess what? No hummers! Hopefully they took off for parts south of here or whereever it is that they go for the winter. Maybe if you take down your feeders your "straggler" will take off for the southern hemisphere, too!

It will go when it's ready......feeders will not lure them into remaining in the north. The angle of the sunlight tells them it's time to go, and they will not remain long enough to be in any danger. It's perfectly ok to leave your feeder up all year if you're inclined to keeping it clean and unfrozen. You may get a sightseeing Roufus or Black Chinned.