Amazing Hummingbirds

[St_Barnabus]

According to the person who emailed me this photo, the woman had a well-known feeding site in her yard, and wondered what would happen if she stood by it with a small feeder of nectar in her hand. The birds got used to her being there, and she finally was rewarded with the marvelous experience of feeding them by hand. She had said that they are light as a feather!

I got a feeder from my daughter for Easter and am anxious to see them fluttering about. One website I searched said this is time to start feeding, using a 3/1 mixture of water and sugar. One bird lover was such an avid host that they used 57 lbs. of sugar in one season!

 

[Rebekka]

Oh I wish I were that woman in the picture!!!! What a lovely experience! I've had squirrels (European red ones) and titmice eat from my hand, which was great too.

 

[St_Barnabus]

You may also enjoy this video about God's wonders. The section on hummingbirds is #14, but you'll have to use Quicktime to view this. It is a free download the website offers if you don't have this already.

Actually, there are many sections that are so awesome to contemplate, especially in spring as all earth is now coming alive. The one on seeds is very special, and quite appropriate for you gardeners who plant them.

Enjoy! God of Wonders - Hummingbirds

 

[servant of Merciful Love]

We have always had hummingbirds...they are amazing creatures!
And funny too...they love RED, and will go out of their way to check you out if wearing red, or they see something inside the house where their feeder is hung

For the past few years I have been watching Phoebe

Enjoy!

 

[Michie]

I have that experience every year. Hummers come the end of May & I get hundreds of them! I hang at least 8 feeders a year. I just love them & look foward to them. But they are little slave drivers! LOL!

They actually look in my window when a favorite feeder is empty. I can fill them up to 3 times a day & they are big stations!

 

[St_Barnabus]

Michie, the end of May? Am I too early setting out the feeders? I am in southern PA near Pittsburgh. I'm concerned that it will just evaporate before a single bird finds it, 'cuz I never had these feeders before. Do you tint your water red? I was told that it is harmful to the birds -- just use sugar water.

PS, did you ever try putting a feeder in your hand like my photo? I'd love to know if it works for you. I suppose it would take a lot of patience, though.

I like to see them fight. They sure are scrappy at times!

 

[Michie]

Michie, the end of May? Am I too early setting out the feeders? I am in southern PA near Pittsburgh. I'm concerned that it will just evaporate before a single bird finds it, 'cuz I never had these feeders before. Do you tint your water red? I was told that it is harmful to the birds -- just use sugar water.

PS, did you ever try putting a feeder in your hand like my photo? I'd love to know if it works for you. I suppose it would take a lot of patience, though.

I like to see them fight. They sure are scrappy at times!

Yes it is probably too early to set them out. I usually set mine out the second or third week of May. I got glass feeding stations with the tinted red glass so I don't tint the water. The only time I have tinted sugar water is when I buy nectar from the birding store. It has some vitamins in it that they need. Makes sure to change the nectar every 3 days in cooler weather & at least once a day in very hot weather if it is not consumed. It can go bad quickly.

It's funny to watch them buzz each other like little fighter pilots! They are very territorial.

I have never trained them to come up in my hands to feed. They just did it on their own. I am out in the yard a lot & I sit on the deck to watch them. I'm the only one that tends to them so that may have something to do with it. I'm sure the large numbers I have here do not hurt either.

I think they are just used to me. I know from reading up on them they return to the same feeding grounds yearly to breed, etc.

I think they just look at me as their food source so they are not fearful of me. They sort of see themselves as my taskmasters I think. When you got hummers looking in your window looking for you you kind of get that impression.

 

[St_Barnabus]

I have never trained them to come up in my hands to feed. They just did it on their own.

WOW! Double wow! I can imagine the first time it happened, you were so excited to find nature in your hands, especially a super jet bird like these!

Well, I emptied my feeder and will take your advice -- to wait until mid-May. I have plenty of them in late summer, but I think they just come for the nectar in all my flowers. Hopefully, they'll arrive a bit earlier if they discover the feeder.

 

[AMDG]

Used to have hummingbirds. Loved them. There are many, many types of hummingbirds. We had mostly the Rufeous (totally brown--the male has a bronze breast while the female's breast was a beige and the little ones' breasts were beige with brown "ticking".) We had feeding stations set up between three neighbors' yards and the wild bush areas to the back of us. From the end of March until the middle of August, we would enjoy the little "hummers" buzzing back and forth (honestly, they sounded like bees) and we were able to enjoy their mating "dances", their nesting, and the little one's being brought to the feeders by their parents.

It sort of all ended, when one of the neighbors passed (guess it broke up the feeding circuit) and then the area in back of us started to be developed (which destroyed the nesting areas.) No more birds came to our red feeding stations. The air wasn't filled with the buzzing any longer. Still miss the little birds.

 

[Michie]

WOW! Double wow! I can imagine the first time it happened, you were so excited to find nature in your hands, especially a super jet bird like these!

Well, I emptied my feeder and will take your advice -- to wait until mid-May. I have plenty of them in late summer, but I think they just come for the nectar in all my flowers. Hopefully, they'll arrive a bit earlier if they discover the feeder.

My husband saw it the first time it happened & he just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Once the hummingbirds get into your area put plenty of stations out along with plants they like. Once they get used to the area & start breeding there they will be back every year & the population will grow. Quickly!

It is work when you start getting a huge community but I think it is worth it.

 

[Michie]

Used to have hummingbirds. Loved them. There are many, many types of hummingbirds. We had mostly the Rufeous (totally brown--the male has a bronze breast while the female's breast was a beige and the little ones' breasts were beige with brown "ticking".) We had feeding stations set up between three neighbors' yards and the wild bush areas to the back of us. From the end of March until the middle of August, we would enjoy the little "hummers" buzzing back and forth (honestly, they sounded like bees) and we were able to enjoy their mating "dances", their nesting, and the little one's being brought to the feeders by their parents.

It sort of all ended, when one of the neighbors passed (guess it broke up the feeding circuit) and then the area in back of us started to be developed (which destroyed the nesting areas.) No more birds came to our red feeding stations. The air wasn't filled with the buzzing any longer. Still miss the little birds.

Ugh! I'm so sorry AMDG.

This is one of the many reason I love living out in the woods.

 

[tadoflamb]

According to the person who emailed me this photo, the woman had a well-known feeding site in her yard, and wondered what would happen if she stood by it with a small feeder of nectar in her hand. The birds got used to her being there, and she finally was rewarded with the marvelous experience of feeding them by hand. She had said that they are light as a feather!

I got a feeder from my daughter for Easter and am anxious to see them fluttering about. One website I searched said this is time to start feeding, using a 3/1 mixture of water and sugar. One bird lover was such an avid host that they used 57 lbs. of sugar in one season!

That is amazing. I love hummingbirds. I have a hummingbird garden and up until recently I worked in a wild bird store like Michie goes to. If fact, I was just communing with a Black-chinned Hummingbird just a few minutes ago in my back yard. I've identified five species in my yard. Last week I saw three different species in twenty minutes.

On the subject of nectar, 3-1 is too strong. Hummingbirds have a high metabolic rate and nectar that is too strong wears out their internal organs. 4-1 is the normal ratio I hear, but here in the desert with the heat and evaporation we recommend 5-1 and even 6-1 once the daily temperatures rise above 90 degrees. 6-1 is as strong of a concentrate as you'll find in natural nectars and the ratio gets even weaker with higher altitude flowers.

Like Michie said, keep your nectar fresh and be patient. If you plant some hummingbird flowers that's always a plus, too. Hummingbirds are also big insect eaters so if you have a garden, you'll see them picking bugs out of the air and off spider webs, etc. Hummingbirds are attracted to the colors close to the ultraviolet scale so bright red, orange, violet things will attract them. At my old house, I painted the trim of my garage bright rose just to attract any high-flying passer bys.

 

[St_Barnabus]

Here's one of my corner gardens, where there are plenty of reds and purples. That's generally where I find them in mid summer. Maybe I'll put the feeder in the middle and keep a watch on it. Thanks a lot for the tip about the sugar quantity, and it will save on the pocketbook, too.
It was 88 here yesterday, but no flowers, and no sign of the birds. I just put the mix back in the fridge for a couple more weeks.

 

[Anygma]

cool, maybe i should do something about it too. i know there are some around, i seen a few each year although i haven't done any effort to attract them. even once, we had one stuck inside our kitchen window. i had to catch it with a net to let him go back outside.

the year that i saw the most of them was when we planted pole beans... the flowers are red. i was thinking about planting pole bean again this year for that purpose but not in the garden. making trellis against the house or something. i did notice they were territorial about our pole bean hehe. it always catch me by surprise when i hear them buzzing by.

i don't want to get into feeders with sugar water though because we have ant problem and i don't want to aggravate that situation. i didn't know hummingbird ate insect... bonus! we can use all the bug eater we can get.

i need to get busy painting my new swallow's bird houses soon too.

 

[Michie]

I need to clean out a few birdhouses here soon.

 

[St_Barnabus]

Michie, did you happen to watch the part of the video on seeds? (Post #3) It really impressed me that each one of these has its own built in DNA to know when to sprout, grow, and become what its genetics are programmed within it. Since you have worked with seeds, maybe you'd enjoy it.

 

[Anygma]

how do you keep the birds safe from all the cats?

 

[Michie]

I haven't watched it yet. But I have read & seen documentaries on seeds. It's pretty fascinating stuff to me. But then again, I'm a dirt monkey.

 

[Michie]

how do you keep the birds safe from all the cats?

Most stay safe. There has been a sad occasion or two but the cats know I do not like it. I praise them on rodents. Birds, I growl...

My cat Casbah has lived with & watched me rehabilitate many wild birds.

 

[Anygma]

you have well behaved cats
mine is an avid hunt it all. i was thinking of putting a collar on her with jingle bells so it would help warn the birds. was it you that mentioned eons ago that there are special safe collars for cats?