Follow the 2009 Hummingbird Migration!!

in fact, here's the week ending 3/21 last year and this year.

Thanks Mrs Ed! I think it's neat to look at different years.

I need to find some cattails too, if nothing else the other birds will perch on them for a nice photo op!

It looks to me like the Hummers are all moving quickly up the east coast. The ones in the midwest seem to be moving very slowly and are avoiding Arkansas and Missouri...not that I'm whining!! LOL!

Pelle, you asked if I have a feeder our...yes I put one out about a week ago and now the time seems to be dragging so slowly!

I went to the nursery today and bought some red petunias and red geraniums. Tomorrow I will pot them up and hope I don't have to bring them in at night. I also have my red chair out in front hoping the Hummers will view it as a welcome sign.

OMG, i love that setup. Those chairs are awesome.

gotta get me some!

Thanks Marna...I can't wait to get everything planted...it's gonna look sooo pretty! That little wooden chair I got at a yard sale and the metal stool at a flea market! The rusty cast iron thing we found in a junk pile...it is the top to some kind of stove and it is sitting on an old milk crate. I've used it as a planter for years!! I love junk!!

That red chair is what I sat on last year in the back yard when I was photographing the hummers...I think they liked it! LOL!

i'm going to go look for something like that!

I DO remember that chair now that you said something.

well I see someone put Memphis on the map but no hummer's here that I have seen.
I'm just a waitin!

I'm only 225 miles from Memphis...so if they are flying at a normal 30 mph they should be here in a week and 15 hours!! Not that I'm waiting or anything...LOL!

When I told my neighbor on the 12th about the Hooded Oriole I had seen she told me that some friends of hers had been seeing hummingbirds in the town just four miles south of us. Two days ago I saw one while I was shopping in that town but it flew by so fast I couldn't tell you what kind. Today I saw my first Black-chinned at my feeder. The Hooded Oriole is still coming but he isn't hanging out. He comes for a drink a couple times a day. Once he ate from an orange and I have not seen him at the grape jelly.

Congrats angele!!

I was just out cleaning of some perennial beds when I heard a buzz! I think it was a bee, but secretly wished it was a hummingbird. haha.

signed,
obsessed in Illinois.

heeheee!

LOL Mrs. Ed!

I just read that the Hummers may be boycotting Arkansas and Oklahoma due to the ice storms they had this winter. I guess that would make a difference in their flight pattern. I set the red geraniums out in the open so they can see them...not anxious or anything though!

Did you remember to turn on your lights on the roof? You know, the ones in the shape of a big red arrow?

LOL...the lights are solar powered!!!

Edited to say that the neighbors are not thrilled living in the red light district!! LOL!

This message was edited Mar 21, 2009 2:04 PM

LOL! I can just picture it!

HA! My how they MUST talk down there!

I was just at menards and could not find any RED pots. Imagine that. LOL.

Hee....I was in Wally World yesterday and they had no red pots either. Whoever does the buying for those stores is missing the boat!

I think I will just spray paint all the barn roofs red...that ought to get some Hummers attention!

should have been at my HD today... they have such vivid bright containers... I actually said WOW when I came around the corner... bright they were

I will be putting out 1 feeder this week for any scouts now that they are on the move again big time!!

On some thread in SOME forum (don't know which) I reported sighting a Ruby Throat on March 17, '09 at 4:13 pm CDT in my yard. I had put out a feeder about a week or 10 days prior to that and sure enough..... He certainly is beautiful!

Ann

Congratulations Ann!

Congratulations plantladyhou!!

Hummingbirds in N. Tennessee!!!!

Feeder is out and waiting for scouts!!

There you go nanny! I'm putting mine out within the next 2 days.

Congrats everyone...a Hummer finally next door in Arkansas!! I am ready!!

Looks like the East Coast ones are heading for the Delmarva peninsula.

Speaking of red! I discovered last year I could get closer to hummers when I wore a red shirt.

I am new to talking on a forum. But I just got my new hummingbird garden (put in last summer) cleaned up yesterday and just today i found the migration maps. lat year i got my first oriole on May1 and my first hummer 2 days later. Am very excited. Time to stock up on sugar, grape jelly(and apple), and oranges. Hello Mrs._Ed. we must be close to each other. I am in Lee co. I look forward to using this entire site alot.

Hey Lynn, Welcome! Yup, i'm in Rock Falls. So we're nice and close! What do you have in your HB garden and do you have the birds all summer? You might see that I'm known here for being crazy obsessed with getting some hummingbirds during the summer!

Lynn, Welcome to the forum!

Hi Mrs._ed,

I started gardening for nature 3 years ago and it really does become an obsession. I also feed the birds as well as garden. I really have to depend on my garden now because seed buying is expensive and my husband and my jobs are not doing so well. The plants I put in my HB garden are: lots of bee balm (monarda), red penstemen, agastache (tutti frutti) , butterfly bush, milkweeds ( for the monarchs but Hb like as well), foxglove (which i hope work out cause i just put them in last year and did not get blooms yet), delphinium, perenniel snapdragons, and their favorite was the lobelia (cardinal flower). On my deck above the garden I had black and blue salvia, a type of honeysuckle, and a candy corn vine. They also love the annual cardinal vine. In the front Hb garden I also put in last year I have a rhododendrum, lots of coral bells and lots of columbine and other penstemens as well as lilies in all the gardens. I have other flowers too but I never got them marked last fall and have forgotton some of what I put in. LOL. I have had 1 or two HB stay all summer the last two years but late fall last year i counted 9 HB at my feeder which was so exciting. I am hoping the gardens draw them in again.

I also butterfly garden and garden for the songbirds. Drives my hubby nuts but then at the same time he loves to sit outside and watch all the birds and my five year old knows so much about birds, butterflies and caterpillers. I absolutely love this time of year when everything comes back to life.

Thanks for the welcome pelletory!

Lynn, Thanks for the input. Sounds like you have lots of nice ones! Are you in town or outside of town?

See you guys, she's only 15 miles from me!!! Why won't they stay at my house in the summer? Boo Hoo.

I will reserve comment I think... ;)

Hi Lynn, glad to have you here! Mrs Ed reallly does whine alllllll summer... LOL!

I do whine. I like cheese with my whine.

I'm on a mission this year though!

Get those "Red Signal Lights" out!

I hope everyone has a good hummer season this year. There seems to be a lot more interest. My walmart has been selling more feeders that ever. We cannot seem to keep them on the shelves. I have been putting out four cases of the $3.88 a day and two cases of the next size of the first nature feeders. Even the wine bottle feeder is selling good. The bouquet feeder sells out as fast as we get them. The new small red feeder is doing well. Only the coke bottle feeder seems to be slow. I think we have sold three times the normal amount of feeders and still going strong. We also sold a lot more bluebird and martin houses than normal. I hope this interest in feeding and nesting continues in future years. Now if we can just protect more habitat. And maybe, just maybe with the new interest that will happen too.

I am glad to hear that more people are taking an interest in feeding the Hummers and providing nest boxes as well. I too wish that their natural habitat would be more protected. It seems like even in our rural area the trees are being bulldozed to create more shopping etc! How many buildings do we need anyway? One of our neighbors is bulldozing a forested area just because he can...the land is worthless for anything but trees as it is too steep to farm! Grrrr...

Even in urban areas, habitat is being lost. My 60 year old neighborhood was comprised of small homes on big lots, and when it was built, the houses were built around the trees. Now, builders are coming in, tearing down the three bedroom 1200 square foot homes and building three bedroom 5000 square foot homes. In the process they're taking down trees like crazy. They cut down seven loblolly pines on one of the lots behind me. They left one sweet gum tree. The rest of the lot is now going to be a giant house. I don't get it at all.

Anyway, back to why I'm visiting the forum!!! I saw my first hummer today!!! Whoohoo!!! It was a beautiful male ruby-throated. I didn't get a picture because it was raining and dark at the time. I just watched him through my binoculars. I hope he sticks around. There are lots of hummer favorites blooming right now, but he was hanging out at the lemon sherbert shrimp plants.