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Post by Leftee on Sept 7, 2020 13:38:26 GMT -5
The males leave @ two weeks ahead of the females. It’s the same for the return trip. So I figure I’m on my last feeder fills now.
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Post by Vibroluxer on Sept 7, 2020 13:53:59 GMT -5
Where do they go? I figure they go someplace warmer but do they go to the same place every year?
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Post by Leftee on Sept 7, 2020 14:06:40 GMT -5
They do come back in late spring looking for the feeders. I assume their southern destination is also repeated. Don’t quote me on that, though.
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Post by LTB on Sept 7, 2020 14:28:20 GMT -5
I never get more than one at a feeder at a time. Me neither. They are pretty territorial! a few years back at my Sister's house in Houston she has 4 feeders and there was one larger hummingbird that sat up on the Telephone line above their fence keeping watch. He would not let any other hummingbird near any of the 4 feeders so they got their minds together (I guess) and 2 would fly around the closest feeder to keep him busy chasing them so the others could use the other 3 feeders then they would seemingly swap jobs. Quite amazing little birds!
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Post by Leftee on Sept 7, 2020 14:47:57 GMT -5
This season I did see two females feed at the same feeder at the same time.
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Post by Pinetree on Sept 7, 2020 15:02:00 GMT -5
I usually have 15 or 20 birds between the four feeders on the front porch.
For what it's worth, I keep them away from the regular bird feeders, and I have noticed that they seem to prefer the ones on the north side of the house.
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Post by Leftee on Sept 7, 2020 15:08:19 GMT -5
I think we had 4... maybe 6.
We’ll see what we get next year.
Our porch faces NE. That’s where we hang the feeders. Just two this year.
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Post by Ragtop on Sept 8, 2020 6:19:49 GMT -5
I've only seen one in three days. They must have headed south.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Sept 8, 2020 6:47:27 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I think we lost a few in the Derecho. We had 6-8 at a time at the feeders in the front yard and 3-4 at the ones in the back. That was before the storm. Post storm I have yet to see more than 3 or 4 together at one time.
Amazing any of them survived 120mph winds and loss of 60% of the tree canopy over the entire city.
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Post by Sharkie on Oct 10, 2020 7:03:18 GMT -5
I was surprised to see one on my back deck yesterday. The temperature has been in the mid 40s here for a few weeks. He should’ve bailed a month ago.
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Post by Leftee on Oct 10, 2020 7:40:58 GMT -5
It doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere. ☹️
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Post by Leftee on Jun 10, 2023 19:46:47 GMT -5
Who’s feeding this year?
Our males are back. They came a bit late this year. Usually they’re here by mid-May. This year it was the first of June. No females yet. They’ll be here this week, I suspect.
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Post by Lesterstrat on Jun 10, 2023 19:52:54 GMT -5
We normally do, but we’re moving on the 22nd so not this year.
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Post by Ragtop on Jun 11, 2023 3:47:48 GMT -5
We don't do feeders because of the bears (as mentioned in my post from 2020). But my wife has two big pots of flowers on the front porch, and they are all over that already. Just one at a time, so far.
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Post by Leftee on Jun 11, 2023 5:54:26 GMT -5
I’ve got to wait a little while before I put out feeders on our back deck. We have a bear that likes to climb up there. He never messes with anything at the front of the house so those feeders are out.
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Post by Pinetree on Jun 11, 2023 9:06:29 GMT -5
I've had the four feeders out on the front porch up for about six weeks now with daily visitors.
Normally, I put them up April 1st, but this year they didn't show up until the end of April.
As a reminder - keep them squeaky clean and change the nectar once a week.
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Post by Lesterstrat on Jun 11, 2023 10:27:10 GMT -5
Btw, I hope you guys make your own nectar. It’s super easy and CHEAP! No reason to pay the ridiculous price for the store bought stuff.
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Post by hushnel on Jun 11, 2023 16:06:19 GMT -5
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jun 12, 2023 6:46:16 GMT -5
They were late to the party this year, but they're back at it. We have one feeder in the front along with a couple chairs. I love to sit and sip on a Chickentail and watch the action after I get home from work.
My task this week is to complete my electric fence for the raccoons. The birds will never be able to ground and touch the hot wire simultaneously (plus it'll be disabled during daylight hours), but the raccoons are gonna get a zinger if they go after the feeders.
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Post by Leftee on Jun 12, 2023 8:13:52 GMT -5
I’m interested to learn how that works out for you, Slacker. I am contemplating the same solution.
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Ryder
Wholenote
Butterscotch Blues
Posts: 856
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Post by Ryder on Jun 17, 2023 15:51:31 GMT -5
We have one feeder and I’ve had one female and one male this year. I haven’t seen them for 3 days so I assume they left.
Last year we had two of each. I remember some fighting going on also.
According to Leftee’s map it looks like we were late to the party, not the birds. I’ll do better next year.
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Post by Leftee on Jun 17, 2023 18:26:07 GMT -5
Keep a feeder out. They’ll be back. Or some others might find it.
Our females finally showed up earlier this week.
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Ryder
Wholenote
Butterscotch Blues
Posts: 856
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Post by Ryder on Jun 17, 2023 18:48:07 GMT -5
Keep a feeder out. They’ll be back. Or some others might fine it. Our females finally showed up earlier this week. Yes, I’ll leave it out there.
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Ragpicker
Wholenote
I'm playing it in a different key
Posts: 336
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Post by Ragpicker on Jun 17, 2023 22:10:17 GMT -5
We have h birds year round. I have two feeders on the back patio and they feed from 5am till dark every day. I also have thistle seed feeder hanging from a big pine tree in the back yard. This one attracts yellow and purple finches that are beautiful little birds. Have a water bottle right there but seldom see them drink. The occasional gila woodpecker comes around and tries to raid the h bird feeders. They tip it enough to spill which is messy.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jun 19, 2023 10:07:50 GMT -5
I’m interested to learn how that works out for you, Slacker. I am contemplating the same solution. Well, the system is "live". I completed the installation Friday. Hardware cloth grounding on the railing and the hot running to the feeder. It's a bit unique with a hummingbird feeder since you have to regularly take them apart and clean 'em. I used copper tape on the perches (where a raccoon will likely grab to pull it over and slurp). I tied that into more copper tape that runs to a plug that I hold to the glass reservoir with a rubber band. That connects to standard insulated electric fence wire that is routed to the unit that outputs the pulses. I have it plugged into a timer/sensor that goes on/off using a sensor so it's only activated at night. I checked it with a multimeter....it's pinging away. I also rigged up a wyze cam so that I can hopefully catch the action when they get their little surprise. So far, they haven't visited.
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Post by LeftyMeister on Jun 19, 2023 10:25:30 GMT -5
We have a feeder out and they're still around. They don't seem to be very afraid of us.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Jun 19, 2023 11:23:43 GMT -5
We have a feeder out and they're still around. They don't seem to be very afraid of us. they never are. We can stand next to the feeder and they'll come up and feed with us standing there.
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Ryder
Wholenote
Butterscotch Blues
Posts: 856
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Post by Ryder on Jun 26, 2023 19:14:21 GMT -5
I’ve still got two hanging around! I live in Missouri.
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Post by LeftyMeister on Jun 27, 2023 7:33:54 GMT -5
We live in northern Ohio and still have them.
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Post by Pinetree on Jun 27, 2023 7:47:29 GMT -5
The weather has been pretty crappy here lately, and I haven't seen any hummingbirds.
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