I don't know if this is the right forum to post this, feel free to move it. Does anyone else notice a big increase in hummingbirds. Earlier in the year I only had 3 or 4 at my feeder, but now there are over a dozen. They are looking in my picture window and I told my wife they must be drones. They do look like they are having dogfights in the air.
Hummingbirds
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I have a few more which, I think are the babies who have now fledged. They are competing/defending nectar supplies and are very active between 8;30 and 9 pm at my 3 feeders. Next month they'll be heading south again. I do love watching these little miracle birds....!
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A couple of weeks back, I noticed some really small ones, no bigger than an inch long, feeding in the early morning. Since then, I think it is 2 or 3 babies. Mom (or Dad) is very protective while those little ones feed, body slamming on bigger ones that approach the feeder while a small one drinks.
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Mom normally has several that come around and set your watch to when they come. She has not seen them regular until early last week. May have to do with the dry spell and less blooms?
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we have like 20 at our cabin now we have 6 feeders out they go through 1and a half gallon of juice every two days they will be gone by October and be back in april
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As everyone else has said the increase are young of the year. We have anywhere from 15-30 every evening now. Going through a gallon of feed every other day plus they’re hitting all the flowers in the yard. You can tell the young ones as they fly up and inspect anything of color before going to the sugar water.
JoeD, that is a great pic. Hard to believe he/she returned back to the very same place. That is just GREAT ! And good job on saving the dude.
To the OP. We always have hummers. But this year there has been a substantial up-tick in numbers. Wife makes nectar every single day. I've seen up to 8 at a time vying for a single feeder, and we have 3 feeders.
To the OP. We always have hummers. But this year there has been a substantial up-tick in numbers. Wife makes nectar every single day. I've seen up to 8 at a time vying for a single feeder, and we have 3 feeders.
all spring we only saw 3 or 4 at the feeder now we have 12 or more and it looks at times like the yard is just full of them. There are day lillies all around the yard and I was just curios if the dry weather might have affected them somehow. Other years we had a slight uptick in numbers but nothing like this year. Maybe it was a good year for hatchlings.
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Joe, how did you come to saving the bird?
Picture of him on red porch cushion motionless and cold. I picked him up, cupped him in my hands to warm him up and a couple minutes later he started moving a little. Plugged his beak into a port on a nectar feeder and he started feeding a little at a time. Put him and the feeder in a small cardboard box on the porch railing and came back in 15 minutes to check on him. He was taking a drink then flying as high as the box flaps then back to the nectar over and over. Checked after another 15 minutes and he was gone. He'd stop by the porch through that season and now he will sit on a limb or the feeder crook and tilt his head as I compliment him on how well he has grown up. He is the largest male in our group and polices the feeders actively. I am constantly amazed and thrilled at how God's creatures will reveal themselves to us if we take the time to slow it all down and take it in!
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The 1st and last half hour of the day seems to be the busiest time for numbers. As I sit here drinking my coffee I counted 23 hummers and a downey woodpecker on the half dozen feeders I can see from my chair at one time. This quart feeder was filled yesterday, looks like it will get filled again today
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if you are having problems with bug and ants getting into your feeder, take a paint brush and paint Vasoline on the top and the stem of the feeder. ants hate it because its sticky and the bugs are the same. i noticed that the bees stayed away from the feeder too.
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