Hummingbird Question
 

I've seen a little Hummingbird poking around my plants on my front porch. He's always by himself.

My question is this.....can I put up a Hummingbird feeder any time of year or is there a certain time of year they're here in the south?

I've never had a Hummingbird feeder before but I have a good spot in the front of the house where I could put one. Is it too late? :)

Here in Houston, we typically see them from about April to October. The really big #s typically come through from April-June (heading north) and August-September (heading south). The main thing we try to avoid is keeping the feeders up so long in the fall that we end up keeping the birds around beyond the time when they will be able to head south to finish migrating with flowers still blooming south of us.

If you keep the feeders up too long, you can keep them hanging around and will end up having to keep the feeders up all winter to give them something to eat since nothing else will be blooming. We typically take ours down after a cold front in mid to late october, (since they can use the north wind to help them head south) but what time is best for you will depend on how early it gets cold and how long plants stay in bloom around you.

Putting one up now is very helpful, as it gives birds migrating south a chance to stock up on energy. What we typically see is waves of them coming through with each front. One group leaves, and there is a lull for a day or so, then the next group arrives. Depending on the year, we often have 4-5 feeders and 15-20 hummers hanging around in mid september waiting on the next cold front.

Thanks! I'll put one up this week. I've never had a Hummingbird feeder before so this will be fun. :)

Here's an excellent article with all kinds of info on Hummingbirds and even a recipe for the syrup they like.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/feeders.html

Depending on where you live.... I'd say put one up.

If none come to it within 5-7 days (shorter if really hot out), I'd change the solution, as it goes bad quickly. Mold kills hummers.

Ours just left, last week. I had two regulars all summer and they even returned after we came back from vacation (I had taken the feeder down for the 5 weeks.).

I read an article recently in a science magazine, that hummers have a very good memory. They return to old feeding spots, over and over. Some birds may be flying South now, so if you are in a colder region, your bird may just be temporary.

I find they are also attracted by outdoor flags. This is how we get them to stay around here. We have a flag in the back and front of our home. Nice for us to look at, but I think it draws them in. Flags certainly were a factor upNorth where we are in a remote area with no flowers. Hummers eat alot of insects.
I visited a bird refuge in Maine one summer, and they had scads of hummer info. Nectar and sugar water are not their real foods you know. They eat alot of black flies, and often steal bugs out of spider webs.

I just ordered a feeder and a brush/cleaner to take care of the bottle. I'm so excited!

Here's the one I ordered:

This is a trick I use to keep the solution fresh longer.

The commerical dry powders sold for hummingbird feeders have Vit C in them to retard mold.

I buy one packet...usually about $1.00 at WalMart, and use about 1/4 measure to 3/4 measure of the sugar you would use for your particular volume. This will make it pink, and keep it fresher a bit longer. I also tend to make it a bit more concentrated, since this retards mold too. ( more like 1:4 instead of 1:5.) One packet lasts more than a season for me at this rate.

I have a small window feeder with a suction cup, so I mix small amounts at a time. If you use a large one like the picture shown, don't fill it up. Make only about 8-12oz at a time.
Large feeders will molder and rot before used up. Even upNorth where we have many hummers I only make a small amount of solution weekly. If the feeder is out of the sun, and on a Northern facing exposure it may last longer too.

I just love the hummers. I have some pics in my album that I have taken the past 3 yrs. Take a look!

Try the HumZinger feeders, Kell, they're great and super easy to clean. Please don't use dyed feed, just plain, clear sugar water 4:1 boiled water to sugar is the recommended solution. I never fill my feeders very much at all, the hummies are so little, they hardly put a dent in it before I change it at 3-day intervals.

I love to watch the migration maps in the spring, people report sightings all over the country as they make their ways north.

If you see a very dark, almost black hood, there's your male. The female has a lighter, almost white collar with a brighter hood (this goes to ruby throats that only come through the midwest/eastern part of the continent).

Almost everyone in my family has feeders...we use sugar water and the small kids and I make feeders sometimes using plastic drink bottles and old saucers. We saw one that was almost lavendar colored once...I know this was a rare color. We haven't seen it in the last few years.

I also have a homemade squirrel feeder...the lil critter runs into the house and into a huge pickle jar(like pickled eggs come in), eats then back out again onto the tree. They attach easily and the jar is easily accessible to refill or clean.

Yeah - we do the hummingbird thing. The feeder's a riot when ya get a group of 8 to 10 of them in their travels north or south. There's always a dominant one that nosedives the others at the feeder and "runs" them off.

They're a real pain when they get in the garage. They can't get out. I leave one of the garage doors open typically when we're home. When one gets "stuck" in the garage, I start by moving the (red) Blazer out of the garage. If that don't work after a couple hours - I try swatting it with a broom to get 'em out.

We have a squirrel feeder too! Several of them. They're called Pecan trees...

Peach trees, pear trees, tomato plants - all bird feeders here. We actually got peaches one year - I hung a bunch of painted styrofoam balls on the tree. The birds gave gave up before the real peaches arrived. Ya gotta "teach" them every spring.

Don't scream animal cruelty however. These big ole' black birds (greckos or something) can carry off your cat...

We got wild pig feeders too. They're called grubs and live just under your grass and flower beds. You should see what a pack of wild pigs can do to a yard. The first time it happened I called the police - I thought a neighbor had taken a tiller to our yard.

Oh well, in Miami it was alligators, land crabs, wild monkies, and wild parrots.

In Michigan - deer (= smashed front end of the car),mosquitos, mosquitos, and more mosquitos.

Boy, did I get off track.

Tom

I think the one that comes to my porch is a male. He's pretty dark with no white on him at all. He's so tiny......almost looks like a big bug!

I'm excited to get my feeder up and going. Doesn't the sugar water attract bees and other insects, though? :confused:

It can, but the bees don't drink much. The ones I have come with an ant mote that really only slows them down. I've had a couple minor invasions this year. I just lower it into a full bucket of water to dilute then dump it over the deck rail.

LOL, the other day I busted out laughing when a bumble bee chased a hummy away from it!

I had to laugh sorry Kelly! We are taking down our Humming Bird feeders right now! They are getting ready to head south to you!!

A Humming Bird will drink their weight each day - just a tip!

I've still got a bunch of bee balm flowering right now and the hummies are there every morning when I come home. There's a bunch of them this week, so the migration is beginning.

I hate to see them go, it's one of the first signs that winter is coming...:(

I have had my feeder out but the neighbors mimosa tree bloomed and all the hummers are there now so soon as the blooms all fall off they will be back again.

I keep the feeder full all the time even when the weather is colder. I keep it out in the backyard away from the house because of bees. We can still watch them but are far enough away if there are bees swarming I don't need to panic. We don't have killer bees up here yet but you never know when they will decide to show up.

Also; I put ant killer granules under it because some of the male hummers were messy and slopping the liquid out. I know it has to be the males because females would be more mannerly.

I use a sugar water mixture and just add enough of the red stuff for a pink color and they all love it and I save money.

Here in NE Pennsylvania, the hummers must left as I haven't seen any for awhile now. We've had some pretty chilly weather -- for the hummers -- it feels good to me! Also I haven't seen any robins for a couple weeks either. It seems like they arrive earlier in the spring and leave sooner than they used to. Global warming? But there are still lots of chickadees, sparrows, goldfinches (their feathers are starting to get more brown for the winter), tufted titmice, bluejays and big black crows! This summer on two occasions, there was a hawk sitting on the arbor in my backyard -- either a red tail or a peregrin falcon. No wonder they can kill their prey, their beaks are huge! Guess the grackles have left too. Bah humbug, that means winter is coming back again. When their food becomes scarce, we have deer eating out of the feeders at night too -- you know, in one end and out the other where they leave the "evidence".

A question for you with squirrel feeders -- do they really keep the squirrels away from the birdfeeders? I still haven't discovered a "squirrel-proof" one, and they're so brazen when I try to chase them. They just turn around and look at me until I'm really close.

It's so enjoyable and calming watching the birds. Have four different birdbaths too.......their favorite is the ground bath that looks like stone and the water is like a puddle. More than one can fit in there at a time.

Thank goodness for my helpers who come once a week as they fill the feeders and baths since I can't get to them anymore!!!! :)

How Nice!
 

You are really going to enjoy the hummer. I'll bet in no time he will bring some friends home with him, then you may have to refill more often!:p

They are so fun to watch. I am wanting to have my dh put one up outside our picture window. Also food for songbirds. But I am waiting patiently. He's a busy fellow!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!:)

Some designs of hummingbird feeders leak. Some develop a vapor lock and air can collect where the ports are.

When it gets really cool, or there are large variations in temp this can happen. If it is cool and the level is low, then it warms up alot during the day, the air will expand in some feeders and push the sugar solution out, and it will drip. I have seen this happen upNorth where temps can go from 50 to 80 in 8 hrs.

Also our suction cup type has a really hard shell, and it tends to vapor lock up. Each morning we take it off the window and tip it slightly and watch the air pocket go glug glug. Sometimes people don't realize this vapor lock thing happens, but the birds will come and try to feed and give up and not return. I think some failures with feeders can be due to this. I happens in some feeders when it gets really cool at night and the solution is sucked up when the air above it in the chamber gets cool and contracts.

For those who love hummingbirds, you might like this book, or get it for a friend for Xmas. It is a photo essay by professional photographers who found a hummer nesting in their yard.
The pictures of the process of raising the babies is just an amazing thing. I think it is the BEST book out there. I guarantee it will take your breath away!

http://www.amazon.com/First-Flight-M...3193498&sr=8-8

Had the feeders attract yellow jackets here, don`t set them too close to the house. Also get the hummingbirds poking around the red emergency release handles for the garage and barn door openers. The will wear themselves out trying to find a way out if they get trapped inside.

I found this about adding red dye to the sugar water mixture:

"Please, do not put honey, Jell-O, brown sugar, fruit, or red food coloring in your feeder! Honey ferments rapidly when diluted with water and can kill hummingbirds. The effects of red dye have not been not scientifically tested, and it is not necessary to color the water to attract birds to your feeder. Further, there are unverified reports that red dye can cause tumors in hummingbirds; this may or may not be true, but why take the chance?"

I found a cute hummingbird video on YouTube today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itoidt0Xrs8&NR=1

There are others there as well. Very interesting to watch!

This is a nest with the two babies growing up. (there are pictures that crop up of the artist's animal sculptures during this long video as well).

We see little hummies everyday at the feeder!! They're so much fun to watch. :)

Kitty - yay, another one gets the hummingbird bug!

:D

I always do sugar water, no food dye. My birds will not drink the packet suff - and don't care what color it is, so why bother with that?

I found if the feeder - at least part of it - is red, that's good enough.

They feed off a lot of flowers that are not red at all - the first ones I had were hitting on blue/purple salvias.

Mrs D - You are right about the feeders and vapor lock. I've had the best luck with the cheap plastic ones from the dollar store. They have a two peice bottom that snaps together. Our temps always have 20+ diff, night to day. But this design allows for just enough expansion or something where it will drip a bit (in the morning), but not lock up or totally pour out.

They usually are good two years before they fall apart and dump all the sugar water.

I still hang them close to my window/front door. But I also hang a yellow jacket trap near by. I did not have wasps/bees fighting off my hummies this year.

I haven't noticed any bees hanging around. I've put my feeder on the front of the house right across the walkway from my potted flowers. They like to buzz around them, too.

I only use plain sugar water, too. No dyes. The bottle on the feeder has a big colorful picture of a hummingbird on it and the bottom round part where they sit is red so I think that must attract them.

I've changed the water out a few times already. Probably too often than is necessary but I don't want it to go bad and have the hummies get sick because of it. It just takes a minute.

Even my kids love it and they're older boys!