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

[ArlyA]

The normal, average ruby traffic is happening at our feeders now.

 

[QRTRHRS]

The birds must have been partying in Acupulco? Have five feeders up and filling them daily.

 

[sixdogs]

The birds must have been partying in Acupulco? Have five feeders up and filling them daily.

Where are you feeders located in relation to house, bushes, open spaces and things like that?

 

[ultrarunner]

Nothing so far…

 

[QRTRHRS]

Where are you feeders located in relation to house, bushes, open spaces and things like that?

Our ranch house sits roughly perpendicular to due south. We have a partially covered deck on the west side. The roughly 12x12 roof is just an aluminum affair kind of like a car port that a previous owner put up. Nothing special so I don't mind fastening unistrut to it to hang feeders on. There is an overgrown bush that breaks the wind or rain. It's some kind of Asian plant with tiny buds that the bees and butterflys swarm when it blooms. The hummers' love flying in and out of it. I have blue berry and black raspberry bushes not to far away that they will frequent. Other than that, there are mature trees about 100 feet away. Usually, when the birds are really busy and the young are flying, I have around 12 feeders up. We have estimated that there have been 60-70 birds during those peak times.

On the east side of the house, there is a deck that the roof extends over. There is a hickory tree about 12-15 feet away from the deck that they will roost on briefly while buzzing the feeders. We will have five or six up once the numbers increase. That side of the house is never as busy.

We clean and fill most of those feeders every night during peak times.

I was watching briefly this evening and there are now at least a dozen.

 

[sixdogs]

All of a sudden we have birds. Lots of birds. Yesterday was not much and today was maybe 15-20 or more visits.

Tomorrow, we're going to put up more feeders and locate a few as QRTRHRS has done in an attempt to pull more birds in.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I was busy today so no time to observe but I have six feeders up and all are empty. Have to add some more tonight.

 

[John0829]

Things are getting back to near normal around here, still not the 2 dozen plus from past years but we are now seeing some dog fights, having close fly by's that will make you duck and it seems the female that would always come to the kitchen window when the feeders were out is now making her presence known.

 

[sixdogs]

Where do others get a lot of birds? Are some locations better than others? What works best? Our best is a feeder stuck to a bay window in the kitchen.

We have a 35 ft tall blue spruce near the driveway that I pruned all the limbs off up to about 8 ft off the ground. What if we hung a feeder off a limb under the tree so it hangs down to maybe 5 ft off the ground? Would birds like that?

 

[ponytug]

Where are some locations of feeders where others get a lot of birds? Birds obviously like some locations better than others. What works best for you? Our best is a feeder stuck to a bay window in the kitchen.

We have a 35 ft tall blue spruce near the driveway that I pruned all the limbs off up to about 8 ft off the ground. What if we hung a feeder off a limb under the tree so it hangs down to maybe 5 ft off the ground? Would birds like that?

View attachment 3544013

If it were me, I'd try it and see. The hummers will be hummers.

All the best,

Peter