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

[Menagerie-Manor]

We don't see many at the feeders in the summer, only in the spring and early fall. Guess there's enough bugs & pollen in the summer to keep 'em going. Milkweed should be in bloom in the next couple weeks, that's a huge magnet to anything that's interested in nectar.

Speaking of bugs and birds, I'm surprised more birds aren't active at night when mosquitoes are out in force.

It's a union thing, Bats have laid clam to evening mosquitos.

 

[sixdogs]

We just had a bird stop at the feeder while carrying nest materials in it's feet. Very odd. Nests here are sort-of grassy woven but securely anchored in the tree .They usually don't blow out of the tree until winter or the following spring and we have some pretty big winds on the flat ground.

 

[ArlyA]

Ruby hummingbird nests are largly composed of spider web which makes then very flexible and strong. And they eat small spiders!

 

[sixdogs]

Ruby hummingbird nests are largly composed of spider web which makes then very flexible and strong. And they eat small spiders!

That might be what I see in some of the nests. The nest is incredibly strong and sticks in the tree like glue. There are also other fine stem-like grasses (but not grass) in it and it's very finely woven.

 

[Oaktree]

It's a union thing, Bats have laid clam to evening mosquitos.

Dunno how it is out your way, but bats have pretty much vanished around here. When we first moved here in '05 there were a lot of them, nowadays not very many. Some disease/fungus (forget what it's called) to blame.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

Dunno how it is out your way, but bats have pretty much vanished around here. When we first moved here in '05 there were a lot of them, nowadays not very many. Some disease/fungus (forget what it's called) to blame.

We had lots at our Jersey shore home and out here we have a very late dusk facing the Pacific and they are all over the evening sky. I'll have to ask my sister about her farm in Rhode Island and the bats.

 

[goeduck]

Dunno how it is out your way, but bats have pretty much vanished around here. When we first moved here in '05 there were a lot of them, nowadays not very many. Some disease/fungus (forget what it's called) to blame.

White Nose Syndrome

White-Nose Syndrome

www.whitenosesyndrome.org

 

[ctgoldwing]

I planted 6 butterfly bushes this year that are just flowering. Supposedly they attract hummingbirds. No hummers there, yet. I still get them on my deck feeder all day. We get a couple of Ruby Reds but mostly they look like this:


Hummingbird

 

[MoKelly]

I planted 6 butterfly bushes this year that are just flowering. Supposedly they attract hummingbirds. No hummers there, yet. I still get them on my deck feeder all day. We get a couple of Ruby Reds but mostly they look like this:


Hummingbird

I love butterfly bushes. I can’t vouch for hummers but I can say you will have lots of butterflies!

Have fun.

MoKelly

 

[kenmbz]

We have two hummingbirds and a few bats.
Not as much activity as last year. Though the ones we have hit the feeders a lot in the morning and early evening.