Hummingbirds

[Gilda]

I didn't know where to post this here or critters..anyways, we go overboard when it comes to feeding hummingbirds...7 feeders ! 5 which are on our sunroom windows..right now they are going through a gallon of sugar water every 3 days !! Pics were taken through the window with a not so steady hand

 

[NYEric]

Not much meat on them chickens! :evil:

 

[Heather]

Not overboard at all!

Your property never ceases to mesmerize me, Gilda. Just breathtaking!

 

[Yoyo_Jo]

Wonderful! Look at those little guys. Too cool. :clap:

 

[Gilda]

Not overboard at all!

Your property never ceases to mesmerize me, Gilda. Just breathtaking!

Thanks Heather ! I am glad your mesmerized, and hope it will take your mind off you wrist. I am glad all went well with your surgery ,and hope you have a speedy recovery !

 

[Elena]

Gosh, hummingbirds in your back garden. Not jealous at all

 

[swamprad]

What a beautiful place you have! I want to try to attract hummingbirds next summer. I was too lazy to do it this year.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Gorgeous! While I have seen hummingbirds here in NYC (not at my LI place though....) I could never attract them with those feeders.....Eric

 

[SlipperFan]

Gilda, you remind me of my brother who has flocks of hummingbirds coming to his feeders -- many of them at one time sipping out of several closely spaced feeders. My hummers are so territorial, anytime one comes near another that is feeding, it gets chased away. I have to have my feeders on opposite sides of the house!

 

[Gilda]

Gilda, you remind me of my brother who has flocks of hummingbirds coming to his feeders -- many of them at one time sipping out of several closely spaced feeders. My hummers are so territorial, anytime one comes near another that is feeding, it gets chased away. I have to have my feeders on opposite sides of the house!

Dot,
We found the more feeders you have and their close proximity, the hummers can't guard them all !! We have several hummers "drink" together, and while 2 are "battling", more can slip in and take a sip. Try adding more feeders and see if it doean't work..even a 3rd feeder should do the trick. Plus keep them closer together...no way can one or 2 hummers dominate at the feeders then. Your brother has learned this trick

 

[SlipperFan]

Dot,
We found the more feeders you have and their close proximity, the hummers can't guard them all !! We have several hummers "drink" together, and while 2 are "battling", more can slip in and take a sip. Try adding more feeders and see if it doean't work..even a 3rd feeder should do the trick. Plus keep them closer together...no way can one or 2 hummers dominate at the feeders then. Your brother has learned this trick

Well, at one time I had 3 feeders on my front porch, and watched as one bird darted from one feeder to another, chasing away it's competitors. My brother's story is interesting, I think. One year, during a cold spell in the Fall, he found a half-frozen hummer on his feeder. He brought it inside, warmed and fed it. A few days later, when it got warmer outside, he set it free. The next spring, a hummingbird buzzed him as if to say "hi" -- set up a nest nearby, and proceeded to teach her offspring to not be afraid of humans and to drink together at the feeders. It's been like that ever since!

 

[Mrs. Paph]

Hummers are the best! I have a feeder on my small apartment balcony, and on busy mornings I can hardly get out the door! They are so intent on chasing eachother around that they don't watch where they're flying! One day I had my hair in a bun at the back of my head, and as I was ducking and dodging I kept imagining one of them spearing itself into the back of my bun and getting stuck there! LOL Several of them are pretty tame even when not preoccupied by chasing eachother too- I can stand two feet away, and they either ignore me, or fly up to my face so close to have a look at me that I go cross-eyed trying to look at them near the end of my nose!

 

[rdlsreno]

Should I get the fly swater?:evil:

Ramon

 

[cnycharles]

Should I get the fly swater?:evil:

Ramon

good luck! they'd probably have you tied in knots trying to swat them....

 

[Heather]

Dot,
We found the more feeders you have and their close proximity, the hummers can't guard them all !! We have several hummers "drink" together, and while 2 are "battling", more can slip in and take a sip. Try adding more feeders and see if it doean't work..even a 3rd feeder should do the trick. Plus keep them closer together...no way can one or 2 hummers dominate at the feeders then. Your brother has learned this trick

I house sat for a friend in Santa Fe and she also had learned this trick. She made her own feeders out of 2 liter soda bottles and had about 7 of them in close proximity. They woke me up when they arrived to feed in the morning, and in New Mexico, there are 3 or 4 kinds so it's really beautiful. We had the ruby throat we have here but also rufus and the black throat (which has a dark head and purple throat really.) Hundreds would come and feed all day. Anyway, I had to fill the feeders once or twice a day and could stand out by them and act like a perch and the birds would land on me and sip from my finger perch. It was an amazing experience I won't be forgetting.

 

[Rick]

I house sat for a friend in Santa Fe and she also had learned this trick. She made her own feeders out of 2 liter soda bottles and had about 7 of them in close proximity. They woke me up when they arrived to feed in the morning, and in New Mexico, there are 3 or 4 kinds so it's really beautiful. We had the ruby throat we have here but also rufus and the black throat (which has a dark head and purple throat really.) Hundreds would come and feed all day. Anyway, I had to fill the feeders once or twice a day and could stand out by them and act like a perch and the birds would land on me and sip from my finger perch. It was an amazing experience I won't be forgetting.

Back in my college days I remember a paper on hummingbird territory size and flower density. Basically it came out to what everyone is figuring out with their feeders.

When there seems to be no shortage of food and feeders, the dominant males don't seem so motivated to defend sparse resources. This holds for the bugs that make up the bulk of their diet too.