Hummers 2019

[thistlebloom]

I was going to post on an existing hummer thread but there were so many, and most were last years. So I started a new one for us to post pictures or just talk about them.

Ours showed up mid April. The first were males, a Rufous and a Calliope. They may have been here before that, I thought I heard one in the trees one afternoon, and as soon as we hung out the feeders they were at them.

We have a lot of visitors this year, maybe the young ones that were hatched here came back. I know we have some regulars since at first we just hung one feeder at the kitchen window, and we saw a few buzzing around the other two feeder spots looking for their goodies. So we have them all up now, and they are going through the sugar water fast. Much faster than last year.

So far I've recognized the Broadtail, Rufous, and Calliope feeding.
I opened the back door early yesterday morning to holler good morning to the horses and a little Calliope came up and buzzed my red sweatshirt!

 

[Carol Dee]

@thistlebloom you beat me to it! I am so HAPPY to see all the hummer activity so far this year. I can identify at least 3 males and one female. Now I need to try to capture at least one on film. So far this is all I managed.

 

[flowerbug]

i love how they can bomb along when i'm out weeding and it sounds like a huge bee. can be quite a scare.

 

[Carol Dee]

Got this photo from a distance. So it is not the best focus. Sitting on the Miss Kim lilac.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Our first hummer appeared April Fool's Day here! We're putting out now 6 cups of nectar weekly spread in 4 feeders- the amount is increasing. Nothing but Ruby-Throats coming in! Here's one of my girls waiting for a refill

 

[thistlebloom]

We're going through a lot of hummer juice too!
Their favorite one, which hangs outside the kitchen window was drained in one day. My husband refilled it and had a hungry customer buzzing his armpit when he hung it back up.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Oh gosh @thistlebloom! We aren't going through it quite that fast, but they get so impatient with me since I have to wash them out. I can't make it to hang the feeder out without a little hummer flying to the feeder in my hand first. July is when things really pick up here, so we will see how busy it starts to get.

Excitedly waiting to see some more photos

 

[Ridgerunner]

The gardening column in the Sunday paper down here said it is time to wash your hummingbird feeders and put them away. We won't need them again until fall when they pass through on their migration route. Evidently they don't sped their summers down here in the southern delta though the maps say they do. So enjoy them.

 

[thistlebloom]

The gardening column in the Sunday paper down here said it is time to wash your hummingbird feeders and put them away. We won't need them again until fall when they pass through on their migration route. Evidently they don't sped their summers down here in the southern delta though the maps say they do. So enjoy them.

You probably get some of ours when they leave in August.
Aren't they just amazing little creatures? They are so fragile looking but travel such long distances. It makes me happy that they fly all this way north and we get to see them. Even happier that some of them are regulars and return year to year.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, I enjoyed them in Arkansas. The feeder was outside the kitchen window, If it ran dry they'd come to the window to let me know. Strong personalities fro such little things. I don't think they are really that fragile.