All Things Hummingbirds

[John Brunner]

It doesn't seem that we have a hummingbird thread, so I'll start one with this cool product I just found:

This is a start-up company (StratoFeeders) that makes "in-flight refueling" hummingbird feeders. They have a Facebook page that you can follow to see when they take these feeders to market. In an industry where all feeders look pretty much the same, I think they are pretty clever. Then there were the fights...

I put up feeders when I first moved here but have not done so in a long time. I had one that mounted to a window with a suction cup so you could sit inside and watch them feed up close. I got timed of the sugary mess when the suction cup would come lose and spill junk all over my siding.

 

[Krystal Shay]

I use to have hummer feeders too. I got tired of the ants always trying to invade the feeder. I used to use red food for the hummers but after reading that it was bad for them, I changed my water to strictly sugar water. They are cool little birds. I loved watching them! When we would sit ouside, they woud get so close to us you can hear them humming.

https://imgur.com/a/Sq1Ey8i

 

[Mary Robi]

My sister's hummers (in North Carolina) are emptying a large feeder twice a day. I was visiting last week and I've never seen that much activity at a feeder.

She said that usually they fight each other at the feeder, but this year there are as many as 4 or 5 at a time. She knows a lot about them and she says it's the females that are being cooperative.

They're obviously feeding a lot of babies and, as usual, it's the mothers who are willing to get along to assure the survival of the young, while the guys still want to wage war on each other.

I love hummers, but we don't get a lot of them down here....too hot.

I went to a hummingbird sanctuary in Ecuador. Big ones, little ones, all humming around. It's surprising how loud they actually are when the buzz around.

 

[Marie Miller]

They eat at a neighbor’s fancy glass feeders and come over to have desert of fresh flowers.

 

[John Brunner]

My sister's hummers (in North Carolina) are emptying a large feeder twice a day. I was visiting last week and I've never seen that much activity at a feeder.

She said that usually they fight each other at the feeder, but this year there are as many as 4 or 5 at a time. She knows a lot about them and she says it's the females that are being cooperative.

They're obviously feeding a lot of babies and, as usual, it's the mothers who are willing to get along to assure the survival of the young, while the guys still want to wage war on each other.

I love hummers, but we don't get a lot of them down here....too hot.

I went to a hummingbird sanctuary in Ecuador. Big ones, little ones, all humming around. It's surprising how loud they actually are when the buzz around.

I use to have w feeders set up...one in front of the house and one in back of the house. Some hummingbirds used to go from one to the other trying to defend both. Even though I don't have feeders or blooming plants, I still see them zoom around.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

We used to put out hummingbird feeders,but those tiny ants would manage to get to them somehow and be all over the whole feeder, so we just stopped doing that. I don’t think that we see very many anymore although they do come around checking out the flowers.

 

[Mary Robi]

We spent five summers in North Carolina and had hummingbird feeders, but the problem I had was with the bees swarming around. They didn't bother the hummers, though...just me.

 

[Marie Mallory]

 

[Tony Nathanson]

Interesting that Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly backwards.
Their rotator cuff and shoulder joint design allows them to rotate their wings in a figure-eight motion, letting them generate lift and thrust on both the upstroke and downstroke. This allows them to maneuver in and out of flowers while feeding.

A few years ago, I heard my Yellow Lab barking furiously, trying to get at a Hummingbird that got in the house. I was able to catch him at the window & took him outside.

 

[Marie Miller]

And those little stinkers will attack you with all they can bring.
It took us a while to figure out that spools of extension cords in a garage drew them in. It had 14foot ceilings so I did the tribal dance with a leaf rake to get them out.

 

[Mary Stetler]

My sister's hummers (in North Carolina) are emptying a large feeder twice a day. I was visiting last week and I've never seen that much activity at a feeder.

She said that usually they fight each other at the feeder, but this year there are as many as 4 or 5 at a time. She knows a lot about them and she says it's the females that are being cooperative.

They're obviously feeding a lot of babies and, as usual, it's the mothers who are willing to get along to assure the survival of the young, while the guys still want to wage war on each other.

I love hummers, but we don't get a lot of them down here....too hot.

I went to a hummingbird sanctuary in Ecuador. Big ones, little ones, all humming around. It's surprising how loud they actually are when the buzz around.

I have a bush outside my kitchen window that has red flowers on it for about a month now. And a family of hummers that have come back for a few years. Not many hummers. But the male of the family will pick a fight with himself when he sees his reflection in the window glass.