Hey Linda: I am insanely jealous of the pictures of you holding the hummer feeder with hummers on it! We have not been having good luck with our feeder lately. The last 2 places we stayed we only had one hummer visit and it never returned. Our current location, not even one visit. I've thoroughly cleaned the feeder several times thinking it was somehow contaminated, but still no luck. Any advice?

Dreamjosie,

It was truly a joy to experience my little babies so close up.  I couldn't believe how much wind their little wings created.  They totally cooled me off.  Of course I was about to jump out of my skin with excitement.

Now, to your question.  Where are you located?  It may be that the birds have started heading south.  Have you made new nectar each time?

Linda: We're in Vermont now. I was wondering if we're too far north. We didn't always make new nectar, but since we've been having problems attracting them, we have made it new each time. But still no luck these last 2 places.

Jo,

If I were you, I would still keep the feeder up.  If they are starting to head south, there may be some still in the area that need it.  Fortunately these little guys know when to start leaving and that is unfortunate for us as it leaves us lonely.

Maybe the hummers are smarter than us and know when to head south. We'll keep putting the feeder out and see what happens. We're in New Hampshire now and will be here until end of August, then heading on into Maine. I'm sure there will be fewer and fewer hummers then. Thanks.

It is my belief Linda and Howard have a magic flute that attracts Hummingbirds that they aren't telling us about. I am going to start calling them the pied pipers of the Hummingbirds. I am soooo jealous ...

Yippee! We finally had a hummer today. A cute little female and she was sooooo thirsty. She came back multiple times. I am so glad we put the feeder up. What a treat.

Yeah!!!!  I am so happy for you!!!  Sometimes you just to give them a chance.

We are here in Iowa and they are here also!!! 

I just had a thought!?  Maybe I could start a migration when we start heading to South Texas.  I can just see it now....thousands of little hummers following our rig down the highway.

Sure..........I can see it now too. You playing your little magic flute, taking all the remaining hummers with you. That would be one way of getting us all to come down to visit you in Texas

Hi Linda,

Wait 'til you get to Texas, you will need several feeders out at a time! You better stock up on sugar on your next Walmart trip!

They have some rare hummers come through there like the Green Breasted Mango!
We saw them down in Weslaco, which isn 't too far from the place you will be in December! Not to mention all of the other hummers zooming around!

Grant & I were there in October and our life list went up about 120 birds!!! (We live in San Jose, CA and hadn't birded east of the Rockies at the time.)

We loved the close up shots of you "hand" feeding the hummers!! We don't get Ruby-throated Hummers here!

Happy birding!
Kathy

Hi Linda         We just added feeder 2 & 3 and it seems we are attracting a lot of bees. When we only had the 1 feeder we didn't seem to notice the bee's. Do you also have a bee problem? Is there any remedy. Thanks    Tom & Paula

I have only experienced bees in one location so far.  Thank goodness.  I did a little research for you and found this site to have some good information. http://www.hummingbirds.net/feeders.html

I hope this helps!!!!!!

Hi everyone!

I think Linda is right about them moving south.  We are in Texas south of Dallas and we seem to be suddenly getting more hummers at our window feeders.  I counted six together around the feeder the other day.  All summer we only had two.  I guess I should put out the others feeders and maybe attract more.

There are butterflies flying everywhere here and they have learned how to feed from the feeders also. It is entertaining to watch them share the feeders.

I too had the wonderful experience as Linda with dozens of hummer feeding from my hand as I held the feeder.  We were in New Mexico at Cimarron Canyon State Park.  It was so exciting!

 

Thanks for the site. We'll try their suggestions. Hate to take the feeders down as we do enjoy the hummers.    Tom

Same story with a little twist. Actually two stories

We would put our feeder up as soon as the migration started thru our area. We put one 4 place feeder out when we first started, soon learned we had to have several feeders to accommadate all the hummers.  Reason was one male hummer would sit up in the pecan tree and fight all the other hummers who tried to feed. We not only used several feeders but also found we had to place them 30 or so feet apart.  We bought a big box of dry feed mix from Wally world so we could keep feeders fresh .  AND that lead to the following story.

We were at Lake Conroe (north of Houston) so we could keep the twin great grandsons. We came back to the MH after riding bikes with the kids and there sat the twins mother drinking a red colored drink. Knowing we didn't have anything like that in the MH, we asked  what she was drinking and her reply was she found the koolaid mix we had in the pantry.  Didn't know how to inform her that it was hummers food not koolaid. Didn't make any difference to her cause she kept on drinking it. 

Forgot to say, we all knew she couldn't flap her arms fast enough to fly and she liked the drink so we left it up to her husband to inform her.. 

-- Edited by jomago at 21:28, 2006-09-06

jomago wrote:

---

Same story with a little twist. Actually two stories

We would put our feeder up as soon as the migration started thru our area. We put one 4 place feeder out when we first started, soon learned we had to have several feeders to accommadate all the hummers.  Reason was one male hummer would sit up in the pecan tree and fight all the other hummers who tried to feed. We not only used several feeders but also found we had to place them 30 or so feet apart.  We bought a big box of dry feed mix from Wally world so we could keep feeders fresh .  AND that lead to the following story.

We were at Lake Conroe (north of Houston) so we could keep the twin great grandsons. We came back to the MH after riding bikes with the kids and there sat the twins mother drinking a red colored drink. Knowing we didn't have anything like that in the MH, we asked  what she was drinking and her reply was she found the koolaid mix we had in the pantry.  Didn't know how to inform her that it was hummers food not koolaid. Didn't make any difference to her cause she kept on drinking it. 

Forgot to say, we all knew she couldn't flap her arms fast enough to fly and she liked the drink so we left it up to her husband to inform her.. 

-- Edited by jomago at 21:28, 2006-09-06

---

jomango,

That is too funny!  Apparently it tastes pretty good to her.  Did she ever ask when visiting again, if you had any more red Kool-Aid? 

We have four daughters.  I could see one of ours doing thesame thing.

 

 

Billiew--    When our grandson told his wife (the twins mother) what she was drinking, she just got the box, read it and informed us it didn't state not human use, and kept on drinking. Because of the twin great grand sons we would get together with them guite often, shes a wonderful wife, mother, home keeper, and cook.  In fact after the wife passed this last June, she insisted I come stay with them for a while. Being she gets up about 5 every morning, she would come into the bedroom I was using, gather up all my clothes, wash them and have them cleaned and folded when I got up.

 

Billiew -- don't want to nosey or picky but I assumed I was one of the older members on this forum.   Noticed your  address was pretty close to Fort Worth, but one thing I noted is I don't know how to read birthdays.    Just curious, but were you really born in 1900 ? ? ? 

You obviously have a wonderful granddaughter in-law.  It is great that your family is so close. 

As for the date of birth, I was born in the sixties  and I have a wonderful husband of 27 years, four grown daughters and one beautiful two year old granddaughter. I sometimes feel like I give to much info about myself on the forums.

 

 

LINDA, I HAD 2 HB FEEDERS A FEW WEEKS AGO AND NOTICED BEES DRINKING THE NECTAR. THE HB WOULD NOT COME TO THE FEEDERS BECAUSE OF THE BEES. I TRIED WASHING OFF THE NECTAR BUT THAT DID NOT HELP. HAD TO TAKE THEM DOWN SINCE OUR 2 LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTERS WERE VISITING. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM? WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION? THANKS, LOIS

Lois,

From what I am learning it is suggested that you move the feeders or take them down for a few days.  Evidently, bees are not as intelligent as the Hummers and will think that the food source is gone for good.  The Hummers will not give up that quickly. 

I have had a few bees around my feeders, but I have been able to use a fly swatter to kill them.  My hummers are putting up with them as long as there is only one bee at a time.

We would take our HB feeders down at least once a week, empty, clean and let set overnight. Then we make fresh "red stuff" and put back out. 

Of course with such a dry, hot year (and othe reasons) we didn't get the feeders out this year.

But I have an offer I hope someone out there will accept.  I'll trade 12 squirrels for one hummer.  The squirrels are roaming in gangs and stripping all our pecan tree, long before they are any good.

Haven't seen any hummers for some time. 

If any of you get down this way and see RV's with bags over the outside rear view mirrors, there is a reason. The cardinals around here many and like to fight with the cardinal they see in the rear view mirror that they think are invading thier territory. The fight with the mirrors go on for hours and  are really noisey.  You will swear they are going to break the mirrior.

Any body want some squirrels  ? ?

We counted over 27 hummers in our backyard Sunday evening (hard little hummers to count too!)....

 I have a couple of pictures and a short video clip posted at http://doncat.smugmug.com if you'd like to see them. I am not a good photographer like some of my brothers here in the forum, but you can tell they are hummers....

Here is one: .

-- Edited by Doncat at 19:43, 2006-09-19

Think I've finnaly figured out why we have no hummers this year. In fact haven't seen the Robins, Dove, Cradinals, and only a few Grackle and  Starling.

As I was taking care of a chore, I looked out the window and there was a Red Tailed Hawk with a Dove pinned to the ground. He grabbed the Dove in his talons as he flew off.  Have seen him almost everyday since.

Guess thats the end of the smaller birds for this year.