Hummingbird season has begun!

Yes, I've had them come to the kitchen window to tell me the feeder is empty.

So Lucky, I'm going on memory but I think April Fools Day was my first one last year, just a few minutes after I put it out for the first time. I thought I'd be at least a week early. What I get for thinking.

That's such a great picture of all your hummers drinking from the chicken waterer! I wish we got that many.
We get Black chinned also. Maybe some of yours come and feed out of my feeders!

I was amazed to find out the longevity of hummers. There's a banding project here in Idaho and they have recorded a 15 year old that returns to the same site every year.
The Rufous generally show up here first, then the Calliope. We also get Broad tailed and Annas.
One of our favorite things to do on the weekends is to sit out in the garden and watch the hummers. Such a lot of joy in such a little package.

flowerweaver said:

One thing I learned about them @Carol Dee is that the same birds come back each year to the same feeder, and so do their offspring. I have helped with several hummingbird bandings out here and that's how they know about the repeat customers! So each feeder serves a clan. I think the squabbles come when someone from another clan stops by.

There are a couple Ruby Throats in that last photo, but the last couple years it's been almost entirely Black Chins, whose gorgets flash purple. At one of the bandings we once caught a male that was half Ruby and half Black, with a split gorget, that was a rare sight!

Click to expand...

How Cool!

thistlebloom said:

That's such a great picture of all your hummers drinking from the chicken waterer! I wish we got that many.
We get Black chinned also. Maybe some of yours come and feed out of my feeders!

I was amazed to find out the longevity of hummers. There's a banding project here in Idaho and they have recorded a 15 year old that returns to the same site every year.
The Rufous generally show up here first, then the Calliope. We also get Broad tailed and Annas.
One of our favorite things to do on the weekends is to sit out in the garden and watch the hummers. Such a lot of joy in such a little package.

Click to expand...

WOW, I would love to see more types of Hummers. We have only seen the Ruby throats here. You are right. They really are a joy.

It's pretty amusing around here in the summer when the hummers come for the water. They will get up on the grape vine's and sit there protecting their territory over the feeders. They dive bomb us when we sit on the gazebo, I'm waiting for the day one of us gets hit by a hummer.

Well, I am heartbroken...I've come to realize this week that the state champion Italian stone pine we lost in the tornado must have been home to the majority of my hummers. We used to see them at sunset hovering above it. And it was nesting season when the tornado struck. Imagine losing your home and family. You'd probably think twice about going back to that place.

So, I have very few hummingbirds this year. A fraction to be precise. I always leave the cobwebs on my windows until after nesting season so that the females can gather them to weave their lichen nests. I haven't seen anyone gathering them. I've heard very few of the mating J dances. With the crews here working on my house I haven't even had time to find out if the handful of hummingbirds here know me. Also, the Hooded Orioles and Yellow Chats haven't shown up, and should have been here by now. It's like our place, once one of the 'birdiest' around, has been marked as unsafe by the bird world. I could cry!

So sad to hear flowerweaver. There must have been something there like certain flowers or bushes that attracted them to the area in the first place? I would think also having so much activity around your home might be a factor. I think and hope you will see them next year in greater numbers. It may take a while for them to get back to their normal patterns.

Mary

Yes, we have to remain optimistic. What attracted them in the first place should bring them back. It could be some anomaly, like the activity or something else.

I haven't seen any yet but from looking at the map it should be any day for the Ruby's. We just had a cool snap that may have slowed them a bit but it is warming up nicely.

We stopped feeding them in feeders and started planting more flowers and vines for them instead. Less mess, less fighting amongst the birds and more natural food for them. We don't have that large a population here anyway, so we have the same number of birds growing for them as we did when we just put out feeders.

Love to watch them feeding along with the butterflies, the bees and the bee flies.

This afternoon a couple hummingbirds landed on me, so I guess not all my buddies are gone. @Beekissed we have left a lot of natural flowering vegetation and planted more that they visit, too. We're pretty much dedicated to their enjoyment Do you get hummingbird moths, too? I love to watch them come out at sunset and nectar the flowers.