Ruby-throated Hummingbirds Vol. 7

I am amazed by your shots of multiple hummers at one feeder. I have one feeder with 4 ports and I only get one at a time, but I have 2 couples in the area. They just fight and dive bomb each other constantly. How is it that yours get along? Occasionally I will see both females feeding for a short time - never 2 males. Never even a male and a female. What is the secret?!
Claire

Yes many of them are banded and their starting to see females arriving down south.

Mrs. Ed...I have no idea how they know what direction they came from or where they are headed!! I got the info on the Mobirds L List and that is all I know. I will have to check the Hummingbird site and see if I can gleen any new info.

Claire...I wish I knew the secret to these crazy little birds! Maybe the mating season is over now and they aren't trying to attract a female? One of my neighbors ( a mile down the road) has 10 times the hummers I have. She has been feeding at the same location for probably close to 40 years and has to fill 8 large feeders twice a day!! They really swarm in the evening...what a sight (and sound)!!

Here's a pic I posted on another website but thought you might enjoy it too. This is one of the males doing his Barnie Fife imitation!

Ohhh!!! So much to learn.

We cross posted Pelle, I did not know about the banding...that is very interesting!

OMG that IS Barney Fife. Nip it!!! Nip it in the Bud!

I think I'm moving to Conway, MO!

What a strange pose for that little hummer. He looks tired! I don't know who Barnie Fife is but it's a cute pic nonetheless!

Barney from "Andy Griffith"??

Claire..Barnie Fife was the character on the Andy Griffith show...played by Don Knotts!

This guy was really tuckered out the other day from the heat and guarding...and no one was askeered of him!

OK, never heard of that show, but I'm not a big TV fan. Looks like his little beak is open in that second shot.

My parents once had a hummer late in the season who was at their feeder, and then as they watched, he slowly went upside down, still hanging on with his feet, on the perch, sort of like in a trance. Another hummer came to the same port, fed for a while (positioned right over the top of the upside down one), and then sat there for a while. The upside down sleepy one eventually seemed to come back to life and they both flew off. The person at their bird store in Nova Scotia said it was cool out and that sometimes they get too chilled and have to semi-sleep for a bit to get their energy back, and that the other one probably helped to warm it up. Funny little birds!
Claire

I would love to see that in my yard.

I've never heard of that Claire but sure would love to see it!

Just got another email and a lady up north said her first hummers just showed up on schedule and will stay until mid-Sept! She said a lot of people a mile around her have Hummers all Spring and Summer. Interesting....

I would love to see it too. My Dad says he was too mesmerized to think of getting the camera! Their hummers arrive usually 3rd week of May and leave in late September. I think these two were still around in October. They are northeast of Maine, so definitely not somewhere that the hummers would want to stick around for the winter!

Rose - So the longer a home has a feeder up, possibly the more birds that will come to it? 40 years is a long time to be feeding hummers in one location! Wow!

I was told that if you see one hummer, there are probably more. Last winter, I would see a female and a male, though not at the same time at the feeder. I always wonder how some folks can attract some many at once! That's awesome!

My last fall migration hummingbird has always left here around September 27-29. It's always nice to get them since I've been unsuccessful in the summer. I've heard lots of people say to take down feeders by Sept. 15 to force them to move south, but I'm not sure about that. Seems like their internal clocks would tell them that and I sure don't want anyone to go hungry if they need something.

I mentioned this before but I always leave 1 feeder out until Thanksgiving just in case an injured one got a late start or that internal clock is on the fritz for some reason.

I had hummers stopping by well into November last year here. So I leave one out until at least Dec.1.

I had always heard to leave the feeders up also for the traveling stragglers! Nanny, I think I will leave mine up a long time also as I would hate to have one stop and have nothing for the long flight south.

I read on the Hummingbird site in the Sticky that a good way to figure out how many Hummers you have is to multiply the number you can see by 4!

Becky...I have lived here for over 20 years but have not been consistent until now in putting out feeders. This is my first year of really caring for the Hummers but my neighbor across the street has feed for many years. She is hit and miss now and I think I am getting a lot of her Hummers.

I wish I could talk their language....

you know rose, thanks for saying that about your neighbor, because I don't feel so bad now. I'd like to think that you are reaping the benefits of her establishing an area. That was my intent too, because I know at least two people who have feeders up in this block.

Do y'all get other hummers besides RTs? I have heard that some species overwinter in the northern states. Seems they can handle the colder weather, but still need food.

No hummers here in Iowa besides RTs. I think there have been maybe a half dozen sightings according to a website I looked at once, of one of the types with purple on it. I forget its name. Anyway, they were considered as very unusual and probably off course.

Mrs. Ed...I am sure that since she established the area we get a lot of Hummers! She has a wooded area next to her and I see "my" Hummers flying over there all day! I've had the feeling that they nested over there!

Becky...I don't know about other species overwintering but we did have a Broad-tailed Hummingbird in the northern part of the state earlier this summer which is most unusual. He was banded so it will be interesting to see if he is spotted again and where. All I've ever seen here is the RT Hummer!

Last year in the fall, my sister saw a rufous hb at her place in Brookfield Illinois! I see sporadic sightings of this in the area.

Yes! I think I have heard that Rufous hummers are tough little birdies and hanging around some of the northern states in winter. I have read about folks putting a feeder up (right under a warm outdoor light to keep the nectar from freezing), so they would have something to eat. And other folks bring their feeder in at night and put them back out first thing in the morning to prevent freezing sugar water! :-) I have also heard of folks making the sugar water stronger in winter to give the birds added energy, though I've heard that this might be harmful.

Becky, I believe you are more apt to see other types of hummers than our friends in the north. I have read recommendations for those of us living in the south, to leave feeders up year around as hummers from out west will migrate here to overwinter. You could even possibly have some of the northern RT's overwinter in Fl.

I'm no expert just an information junkie on the thing that interest me. I have read that hummers migrate on a solar cycle, when the length of day shortens just so much they just up and leave males first followed by the females and they usually return to the same place the next year. That's why people can narrow down when they start getting hummers in the spring, cause they are usually the same birds/same family on the same internal clock(or pretty much the same internal clock, heredity wise)

How do they know how to navigate? One theory has it that they work the same way bees do, with iron in their diet. Wow, right? Apparently the minuscule iron fragments line up with the earths magnetic poles, talk about "gut instinct".

Does anyone ever watch your feeders at night?

I didn't take this one I found it somewhere. Kinda creepy though.

bradh616 - Cool information! I had not heard about the iron theory. That's something!!!

I am seeing hummers pretty much year round. Sometimes they disappear for a month and then suddenly show back up again. I wonder if they are different birds just moving on or nesting or something else when I have my short lulls here and there. So I am leaving my feeders up all the time now. I know it's a pain to clean and change the water every couple of days, but I enjoy them so much, that it is a small price to pay to have them come visit me. I also have many, many nectar plants all around my yard and we often see them nectaring from the flowers before we see them at the feeders, so I often wonder if it is juveniles who haven't figured out the feeders yet. Ironically, most of the ones that stay a while have been female RTs. The males don't hang around but for a day or two.

Thanks for that interesting information about them.

Oh wow! We posted at the same time and I just saw the bat pic! How cool! I would love to have the bats hang around my house, too. We have lots and lots of mosquitos for them to eat! LOL

I have also heard of raccoons tipping the feeders to the side and sipping all the nectar out. LOL! So I am sure that more than Hummers have a sweet tooth! :-D

I wish we had nectar drinking bats here that would be so cool. Yes raccoons will empty feeders!!

Here is my front porch feeder..notice the dirty spots on the post.



This message was edited Jul 28, 2008 3:43 PM

Close up of dirty spot...actually raccoon paw print from about a month ago when I forgot to bring the feeder in one night. Needless to say it was empty in the morning.

The Hummzinger Ultra in the back yard on a shepard hook is spill proof, so they can't get anything when they tip it. So they leave it alone!



This message was edited Jul 28, 2008 7:49 PM

Guess I could put a hummer pic on here...lol!

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I love the hummzinger ultra - so easy to clean. I just wish they made a bigger one with more than 4 ports.

I've never seen bats doing that...I will have to watch as I know I've seen bats fly out of the trees at night!

Nanny...cute little Hummer pics and LOL on your post!

Finally got a pic of a hummer on the Scarlet Runner Vine!

HummZinger® Excel Hummingbird Feeder has 6 ports and holds 16 ounces of nectar.

http://shawcreekfarms2.stores.yahoo.net/humex.html

amazing pictures everyone. It's so nice to see them in flowers also. I would also like to see some of those bats in my yard.
I got close to the Monarda yesterday and got these.

Front view.

beak in the flower.