Anyone else have an unusually large number of hummingbirds this year?

[Oaktree]

That is great info. We feed about 50 birds during a typical summer day. More when it's busy; less when other food more abundant.

Yikes! I'd say we don't have more than a half dozen or so. Dunno if we're just too far north or if there's just so much "real" nectar here they don't need to visit a feeder.

An hour East of Atl and I saw 2 at once, just a single time. I took down the feeders, cleaned them real well and made a new batch of nectar and I haven't seen any for 2 days.

On the upside we have 12 or more Goldfinch which is more than normal.

Maybe yours have headed north for the summer? Not sure where ours winter but I've heard a couple buzzing around last couple days, so they're coming back north.
We had an unusual number of finches this past winter at our feeder. Feeder came down end of March, but I'm sure they're still around. Been a few years since we've had many.

 

[LouNY]

Well I was standing here at my kitchen window this morning watching the Gold Finches feed,
got a whole flock of them 18-20 at one time some times.
But saw my first Humming bird of the season, so hurried and put up my two feeders for them,
about an hour latter had two of them squabbling over the feeders. Usually have 2-3 pairs in the spring
is all and they are very territorial little beggers, they will chase the others off constantly.

 

[ponytug]

We set multiple feeders normally, out of sight of each other to keep the squabbles down. Mostly it is just the males, but every so often a female gets annoyed and gives the male what for.

Always fun to see them.

All the best,

Peter

 

[sixdogs]

sixdogs said:
That is great info. We feed about 50 birds during a typical summer day. More when it's busy; less when other food more abundant.

Oaktree said:

Yikes! I'd say we don't have more than a half dozen or so. Dunno if we're just too far north or if there's just so much "real" nectar here they don't need to visit a feeder.


We didn't get to that many birds overnight and it took a few years to build up the numbers. Wife always had clean feeders and frequently changed to new food. We put feeders out early and left them up late in the season. Each year there were more birds than the prior year.

This year is another slow start but she doesn't let them birds down with delayed cleanings or food. If they are out there, we will get them as the season progresses.

This year, we just had our first oriole ever and it came to the HB feeder. Anyone know if they will feed off an HB feeder?

 

[goeduck]

We didn't get to that many birds overnight and it took a few years to build up the numbers. Wife always had clean feeders and frequently changed to new food. We put feeders out early and left them up late in the season. Each year there were more than the prior year.

Same here, except that the wife does not do the feeders, I do

 

[Larry Caldwell]

We set multiple feeders normally, out of sight of each other to keep the squabbles down. Mostly it is just the males, but every so often a female gets annoyed and gives the male what for.

Always fun to see them.

All the best,

Peter

I have a feeder on each side of the house. They segregate by species. The Annas have staked out the north side feeder, and the south side is primarily visited by rufous. The Annas are very numerous and drink more.

 

[ponytug]

I have a feeder on each side of the house. They segregate by species. The Annas have staked out the north side feeder, and the south side is primarily visited by rufous. The Annas are very numerous and drink more.

That is wonderful, we just see the rufous as they migrate through Spring and Fall. In contrast to the Anna's the rufous seem more curious, for lack of a better word, often stopping to check us out. But that could just be a result of the Anna's always seeing us. With patience, my father in-law did get some of the Anna's to land on his finger.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ArlyA]

We finally got our feeders out. They are already north of us, so yes, we are late.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

They’re real slow showing up this year. Maybe the recent storms in the south pushed them up the eastern seaboard.

 

[sixdogs]

They’re real slow showing up this year. Maybe the recent storms in the south pushed them up the eastern seaboard.

Something happened because we usually see repeat customers that survived the winter. We'll know better in a couple months but so far it's all new faces.