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

[goeduck]

Holy cow! Freshened up my two feeders with 32oz of nectar last night and right now we have the largest number of hummers at the same time I have ever seen! Aerial dog fights galore!!! I wish I could get pics of this that do it justice. So far, counted max of 8 at once around the feeders. 4 on one, 2 on the other and 2 in flight not waiting their turn!

One of my feeders is going through 2 cups (16 oz which fills it) a day, the other is about half that rate, but occasionally it also empties in 1 day. So I am going through about 3 cups a day on 4 cup feeder capacity. I saw a very large feeder like yours in Wilco but I was thinking it was too big. Now I am having second thoughts as I would like to not have to refill every day (wife cannot do it due to physical restrictions) in case I need to be away from the house. Question to all of you that have multiple feeders, is it better to have the feeders near each other or far away from each other? Mine are currently on each side of the house. On the one that gets the most traffic the birds share fairly well. On the one that gets less use, they fight more.

 

[dragoneggs]

My two feeders are about 5ft apart. Causing quite the commotion. I like a location where I see from a comfortable chair.

 

[CADplans]

Today, I am sitting on the porch, and periodically, I hear a hummer,,,
Finally, I get up and walk towards where the noise is,, and,, what the heck!!??

There is a hummingbird,, with its beak stuck in the wire screen of the porch,,,
I go outside, and walk towards it,, then, it tries WAY harder to get loose,,
and it does finally get loose.

That was a "first" for me,,, :confused2:

 

[sixdogs]

We have feeders in the front, back and one suction cup one stuck to the kitchen window. Pic posted a page or two back. They will often go to several feeders on the same trip. Or, if movement inside the house spooks them on the window feeder will abandon that and hit the other feeders. We do best with a few feeders somewhat close plus a couple feeders on the other side of the house. We don't always see them but food keeps disappearing so we know they're getting to the far side feeders. Lately, we've had lots of birds at dawn or just after.

 

[goeduck]

Or, if movement inside the house spooks them on the window feeder will abandon that and hit the other feeders.

I probably should move my less frequented feeder farther from the window it is in front of.

 

[CADplans]

I probably should move my less frequented feeder farther from the window it is in front of.

The last few days we have charcoal grilled,, and during lighting the charcoal, THICK smoke floats right at the hummingbird feeder,,
The smoke does not deter the birds at ALL,, they just keep coming to the feeder the WHOLE time the charcoal is smoking,,
Heck,, a couple days ago,, I grilled some burgers,, the birds kept coming the entire time the burger smoke was rolling over the feeder,,, :confused2:

 

[sixdogs]

I probably should move my less frequented feeder farther from the window it is in front of.

We've now have what works for us. We have one on a suction cup feeder on the window and three hangers scattered on posts. One is 10' from the window feeder and is one we can watch. Another is 15' away, still in view but near the edge of the garden and another in front of the house. That one is somewhat in view and we found gets lots of activity when the others are too busy. Some birds hit each of the back feeders and then zip off around the house to the front feeder. We freeze inside when one goes near a feeder and that seems to work. Dawn is a busy time for birds.


It's taken a while to build up HB activity but it's now common for us to get maybe 30 or more birds a day and this is the slow time of the year since they also like eating bugs. It's thrilling for us. An additional plus is that we now have nesting HB's everywhere in trees in the yard. We find old nests in the fall and winter and are surprised at how many there are. We feel like a Motel Six on the hummingbird trail and love it. Wife changes food every three days.

HB's are said to return to the same feeders each year and we feel can maybe recognize a few. One in particular was a late fall transient heading south for winter and had unusual vibrant markings. We're near certain that same bird is back and decided to stay with us. Maybe it's true that they return.

 

[TractorGuy]

I'm having an unusually LOW number of hummers this year.

As far as the water goes I'm on a well so I quit boiling the water. I have started just putting a cup in each feeder so I change the water more often.

 

[dragoneggs]

I’ve never seen so many as this year! Quite entertaining. WWII dogfighting.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...Feeders that hang near cover from above will usually see more activity than feeders hung out in the open...