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Post by Pinetree on Jul 22, 2020 18:00:11 GMT -5
Feeding these vicious little buggers is probably the cheapest hobby I've ever had, ranking just above whittling a stick.
I have four feeders on the front porch, and I try to have them up by the 1st of May, but sometimes they get here early and surprise me.
I've noticed that then, and also when I take them down for cleaning... That they're always hovering at the exact spot where the feeder would have been.
Not flying around looking for it, but parked exactly eight inches below the hook, as if to say, "Dude, where's that red thing?"
How do you suppose they do it?
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Post by stratcowboy on Jul 22, 2020 18:21:39 GMT -5
They are amazing creatures in so many ways. I don't understand it either. We can't put up feeders 'cause we've got too many bears in the area. But there's plenty of natural vegetation they like; so they are all over the place. And when I wear a pink polo shirt...LOOK OUT!!
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Post by Leftee on Jul 22, 2020 18:24:38 GMT -5
Yeah, they come back looking. I’ve noticed that.
Since we moved I put up one out here... just in the last couple days. We have a male and a female feeding from it. I god the wife that, now, we have to always put it up there.
Pictures will follow when I have time.
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Post by Taildragger on Jul 22, 2020 19:44:26 GMT -5
I read someplace that they burn calories so quickly that they must feed almost constantly while they're awake or they'll starve. Their wings beat something like 50-70 times per second. One of nature's most fascinating boidies. Our winters are often mild enough for them to stay year-round here.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jul 22, 2020 19:57:36 GMT -5
Pelagic salmon hatch miles inland, spend their entire life out in the ocean, and then return to the exact same stream or river where they hatched to lay their eggs for the next generation. Incredible.
Just like cattle that walk the same way every time...so much so that they wear paths in the soil.
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Post by Pinetree on Jul 22, 2020 20:10:03 GMT -5
Oh yeah.
The kittens that live under the shed have a path worn in the grass.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jul 23, 2020 8:59:08 GMT -5
We have 4 feeders, two in front, two in back. Sometimes we have 8 of em battling over a feeder. When I refill, they'll land and feed while I'm holding the feeder....they won't even wait until I get it hung!
If a feeder gets empty, they hover at the window looking in, presumably to tell us to fill the feeder.
We love them.
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Post by Leftee on Jul 23, 2020 9:11:56 GMT -5
This year I want to get to the point of hand feeding them.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Jul 23, 2020 9:18:34 GMT -5
They probably just Tweet out the location...
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Post by Leftee on Jul 23, 2020 9:19:45 GMT -5
^ Dad joke
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Post by Ragtop on Jul 23, 2020 10:08:35 GMT -5
We had visitors from Nebraska last week, and were having Chickentails on the front porch. The lady visitor was wearing sandals, and had painted her toenails bright red.
A hummingbird zipped right up and had a close look at those toes. It then departed, made a big loop around the yard, and came back and just hovered over those toes for at least 30 seconds. It wasn't the least bit concerned about the four people right there watching it.
Amazing little creatures, I get a big kick out of them. I don't put out feeders, because, like stratcowboy's situation, they attract the bears at night. But we have a couple of huge Russian sage plants out front that are about to bloom, and the hummers love those.
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Post by Joe Potts on Jul 23, 2020 10:23:12 GMT -5
Some years ago, I didn’t put out the hummer feeder in the spring because we were going to move. Darned if they didn’t come around anyway, hovering in the spot where the feeder was the previous summer. Impressive!
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Post by LVF on Jul 23, 2020 11:01:54 GMT -5
I've never seen one with a shark fin. Are the modern ones more tech savvy.  |
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jul 23, 2020 14:41:14 GMT -5
This year I want to get to the point of hand feeding them. We have feeder rings. If you stand out there, they've come right up to it and hovered, but not eaten yet. I'm always shocked when they feed while I'm holding the feeder trying to hang it back up. They're literally 3" from my hand. |
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Post by Leftee on Jul 23, 2020 14:42:57 GMT -5
My photog rig to capture hummingbird images is pretty big and includes a flash. After a few initial jitters they don’t care about it. 😂
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Post by LTB on Jul 23, 2020 15:58:58 GMT -5
This year I want to get to the point of hand feeding them. That would be so cool! |
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Post by Opie on Jul 25, 2020 6:08:28 GMT -5
We love our Hummingbirds,but man are they territorial. It's like watching a miniature speeded up version of a WW2 dogfight as they battle over feeder superiority.
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Post by Leftee on Jul 25, 2020 6:14:54 GMT -5
Love the dogfights. They don’t last long.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jul 25, 2020 8:07:51 GMT -5
We got to see a couple mating rituals this year which is really cool.
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Bbendfender
Wholenote
Mostly play Fender guitars and amps. I'm 71 and have had a guitar since 1964. Got serious in 1975.
Posts: 216
Age: 71
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Post by Bbendfender on Jul 25, 2020 9:34:29 GMT -5
We also have hummingbirds and we enjoy watching them feed on our "red" feeders. We leave our feeders up all year long and just clean and fill them in the Spring. I've noticed how precise they fly. Probably do have some kind of magical GPS going on in their heads.
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Post by Pinetree on Jul 30, 2020 19:05:28 GMT -5
For two nights in a row they have been swarming my front porch, there's probably 20 of them here right now.
I usually don't see this type of behavior until right before they migrate, I really think we're going to have an early Fall.
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Post by De ville on Jul 30, 2020 21:53:23 GMT -5
I love it when they do the power dive followed up with the power brake. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE! VVVVVVVVVVVVVT!
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Post by Pinetree on Aug 2, 2020 16:34:09 GMT -5
It's crazy, I'm pretty sure this is the beginning of the Fall migration. I've had to fill up all four feeders every day for the last week.
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Post by gato on Aug 2, 2020 16:54:55 GMT -5
Most of the males have a very small GPS, but they still enjoy mating at warp speed.
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Post by rangercaster on Aug 2, 2020 17:48:14 GMT -5
If birds fly ... Over the rainbow .. . Why, oh, why, can't I  ... Jus sayin ... |
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professor
Wholenote
"Now I want you to go in that bag and find my wallet." / KMMFA
Posts: 618
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Post by professor on Aug 3, 2020 9:33:53 GMT -5
We have a lot of wild and planted honeysuckle, as well as mexican firecracker that they always go for, so we finally put up a couple feeders this year to add to the attraction. I'm wondering if the storm that's now tracking up the east coast will deliver a backside push south as it passes that the ones in Pinetree's area are anticipating - the winds there will be clocking around to the WNW on Wednesday. www.thespruce.com/when-is-hummingbird-migration-386451 |
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Post by Taildragger on Aug 3, 2020 14:47:26 GMT -5
'Member back in the '80s when hummingbirds were all into disco and cocaine and hot-tubbing 'n that? Seriously, though: I've never seen such a large number of them tolerating one another like this. Usually they are quite territorial (as mentioned above by opie):
We have a funky little fountain in our backyard that they spritz off in, but only one at a time.
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Post by Leftee on Aug 3, 2020 15:21:17 GMT -5
I never get more than one at a feeder at a time.
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Post by Leftee on Sept 7, 2020 13:07:03 GMT -5
Our males have departed. Just two females left. I expect they’ll head out in a week or so.
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Post by Pinetree on Sept 7, 2020 13:25:38 GMT -5
They've tapered off drastically here, but there's still one or two out front.
I suspect it won't be long until they're gone for the year.
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