Hummingbird Appreciation thread

[barabootom]

I've always loved hummingbirds. The last few years I've been putting out a hummingbird feeder. Usually there are 7-8 hummingbirds that regularly visit the feeder, but this year there are dozens. They empty the feeder twice a day. Here are a few pics from today shot through my upstairs window. I'm also posting a youtube video I took a few years ago in Selvatura Park in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Feel free to post anything interesting about hummingbirds.

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[Shell]

Great pics and vid I love them also, I always hang a feeder.

I haven't noticed an increase this year, however we moved last summer and I can't see the feeder from inside as easily as I could in the old house.

When I was younger, we went to a hummingbird "sanctuary" in Arizona, I believe. Amazing place.

 

[Kirsten]

Nice photography. Hmmm...interesting thing about hummingbirds....

http://howtoenjoyhummingbirds.com/

 

[Widowman10]

we have a place up in mueller park in the rocky mountains where the h-birds are just thick. if you put your fingers on the feeder, several will actually land on your hands and drink. not a lot of people up there, the birds just aren't afraid of humans. pretty neat really.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Wow, cool! So what do you put into the feeders?

 

[Skullptor]

That is absolutely beautiful! That makes me want to put my feeder out. Thanks for reminding me how enjoyable these can be!

 

[Shell]

Wow, cool! So what do you put into the feeders?

I buy the hummingbird "nectar," but I know my mom used to make her own. It's a sugar water type of thing, but I'm not sure what, if anything else, is in it.

 

[Shell]

Oh I remembered a little hummingbird story

I find cemetaries fascinating and I was walking in one not far from my house a couple summers ago. I noticed a young woman tending to one of the headstones, when I got a little closer I saw that she was hanging a beautiful (looked like handblown glass) hummingbird feeder over the headstone. She had also put a few pots of flowers down under it. I didn't want to interrupt her, but I guess she noticed me, and proceeded to explain that her mom had loved hummingbirds, they were her favorite thing, and she would spend hours sitting on the porch watching them at her feeder. She said it only seemed right to put one up for her here.

Later that summer, I was walking past and I could see 2 hummingbirds at the feeder I couldn't help but smile. Every fall she takes the feeder down and every summer it goes back up. I always make a point to stop and see if any birds are "visiting."

 

[barabootom]

we have a place up in mueller park in the rocky mountains where the h-birds are just thick. if you put your fingers on the feeder, several will actually land on your hands and drink. not a lot of people up there, the birds just aren't afraid of humans. pretty neat really.

That sounds really fun. The ones around here aren't that tame, but they will fly pretty close sometimes and perch nearby to observe you with caution.

 

[DrAce]

I have not had the pleasure of meeting one as of yet. Do they come this far north (Ottawa)?

I did see a dead one in the middle of LA once.

 

[barabootom]

Wow, cool! So what do you put into the feeders?

I'm using a colorant free calcium enriched sugar syrup I buy locally. Most of the hummingbird foods you can buy are dyed dark red. I can't believe that's healthy for the birds so I buy one that's color free. I buy a quart for about $6 and I dilute it 6 to 1 with water. What's really cool is it doesn't matter what time of day, I have hummingbirds coming and going from sun-up to sun down. It's relaxing to watch them perch on the feeder.

 

[barabootom]

I have not had the pleasure of meeting one as of yet. Do they come this far north (Ottawa)?

I did see a dead one in the middle of LA once.

Ours fly to Mexico in the winter and come back mid-Spring. I'm pretty far North (not as far as you) but temps here get -20 degrees sometimes. The ones we have here are the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds ( Archilochus colubris ). The pics I took are all females. The males are brighter with a red throat. Here's a quote on distribution.

Distribution and Migration
Ruby-throats breed throughout eastern to midwestern North America, from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Most winter in Mexico, Central America, and on Caribbean islands, although a few remain in the Gulf states and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Most researchers accept a remarkable non-stop crossing of the Gulf, taking 18-20 hours. They arrive at the coast in late February or early March, and follow the development of spring flowers northward, reaching my home in St. Louis on April 20 +/- 2 days. Males migrate earlier than females, in both directions; some adult males start south as early as JUly. Our female breeding birds leave here (St. Louis) in September, with the young of the year following; the last juveniles depart abruptly at first frost (mid-October). By mid-November the fall migration is essentially completed throughout North America.

This comes from this page...

http://www.hummingbirds.net/rubythroated.html

 

[Shell]

I have not had the pleasure of meeting one as of yet. Do they come this far north (Ottawa)?

I did see a dead one in the middle of LA once.

I would imagine so, I get them every summer and I'm about 4 hrs west of Ottawa.

I'm using a colorant free calcium enriched sugar syrup I buy locally. Most of the hummingbird foods you can buy are dyed dark red. I can't believe that's healthy for the birds so I buy one that's color free.

+1

I do the same. I know what red dye does to my kids, I can't imagine it's very good for tiny little hummingbirds.

 

[barabootom]

Oh I remembered a little hummingbird story

I find cemetaries fascinating and I was walking in one not far from my house a couple summers ago. I noticed a young woman tending to one of the headstones, when I got a little closer I saw that she was hanging a beautiful (looked like handblown glass) hummingbird feeder over the headstone. She had also put a few pots of flowers down under it. I didn't want to interrupt her, but I guess she noticed me, and proceeded to explain that her mom had loved hummingbirds, they were her favorite thing, and she would spend hours sitting on the porch watching them at her feeder. She said it only seemed right to put one up for her here.

Later that summer, I was walking past and I could see 2 hummingbirds at the feeder I couldn't help but smile. Every fall she takes the feeder down and every summer it goes back up. I always make a point to stop and see if any birds are "visiting."

What a neat idea. She must go back regularly to refill the feeder.

 

[Shell]

What a neat idea. She must go back regularly to refill the feeder.

She said she checks in once a week or so, depending on how fast it's emptying. We get them here, but not in the insane #'s you seem to (I'm jealous )

 

[DrAce]

I wonder if it's worth setting up a feeder in downtown though :-(

 

[Moltar]

We have the Ruby Throated ones here in MD. They don't come around my house because i'm in a somewhat noisy part of town. They do come around my Dad's house though. We don't have a feeder set up but rather this giant bush with red flowers that they love. They're pretty fearless of humans but I don't think they're very close to perching on my hand or anything.

 

[What]

I didn't want to interrupt her, but I guess she noticed me, and proceeded to explain that her mom had loved hummingbirds, they were her favorite thing, and she would spend hours sitting on the porch watching them at her feeder. She said it only seemed right to put one up for her here.

That reminds me very much of my grandmother who now has Alzheimers...she does this weird laugh anytime she sees hummingbirds/the hummingbird stuff up around their house even now and my grandpa keeps their hummingbird feeders full so she will take a break from her wandering around their house and just sit and watch; which she does for hours, now, I guess...

 

[Kirk]

This is a series of photos of a nest in the yard of a friend here in southern California.

 

[elportoed]

There are a few around my neighborhood. I started feeding them last year. I found most recipes for the syrup on the web suggesting 1 part white cane sugar and 4 parts water mix. It works pretty well for me.