The Hummingbird Haven

[589205]

Hello there!!! You have the moats…..any hummers? We haven’t seen a thing here. But then the whole lot has been reconfigured for the new house we have on it now, and they tend to look for feeders where they fed last. No flowers planted here yet either, so this year may be a bust.
How are you doing?

Yes, the ants have been going crazy feeding off the sugar water lately and my old ant moats were broken so I needed some new ones. I’m sorry to hear they haven’t visited yet…I hope they do soon! We have a few Ruby-throated hummers zooming around here but not very many. So far just 1 dominate male and 2 smaller ones.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@MamaSug - if you don't have luck with the ant moats and they keep going dry, try the repellant based ones. I got a set of them this year and love them. not a single ant in the feeder locations that have them since putting out. Perky Pet Ant Guards

@Blooie - so sorry to hear you haven't received any visitors. Have you tried putting a camera on them? A game camera can pick up hummer visitors in photo mode. We are hearing a lot of people say that they have very few of them, so you could just have one or two that make quick visits?

 

[Blooie]

I’ve got hummers!!! Saw the first one, an adult male Rufous, on Sunday evening. I should have been in the house packing for my Monday trip to the hospital in Billings, but sat on the porch all evening watching him.

Got home Tuesday afternoon and Ken got me settled in my deck chair on the porch. Sure enough, the little guy was back. Then suddenly on the other feeder there was an immature male Rufous feeding frantically. I guess he was grabbing what he could before the old man could show up and chase him off. But the old man didn’t show up - instead a little female flew in and hit the other feeder. So I’ve got at least 3 that are visiting regularly. No photos yet….but my heart is happy!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Blooie Oh I am just so happy for you! I am so glad they showed up, I know you were worried

 

[Blooie]

@Blooie Oh I am just so happy for you! I am so glad they showed up, I know you were worried

It just ain’t summer without my hummers!! When I was first inundated with them several years ago, our local paper did a story on my yard being certified as a National Wildlife Habitat. People stopped me all the time, saying “I didn’t know we had hummingbirds here!” Soon flower beds with the plants I’d mentioned and feeders were going up all over town. My numbers plummeted after that but my faithful few showed up year after year.

This year the entire lot is different and my flowers haven't really kicked in yet. So I was overjoyed to finally see some, even though it’s late in the season so they might not be around long. My granddaughter started calling them “honeybirds“ when she first started talking, and we call them that to this day! (She’s almost 17 now) When these showed up this year, she sent me a text that simply read, “Honeybirds have arrived at the Haven!”

How about the rest of you? Getting lots?

 

[rosemarythyme]

How about the rest of you? Getting lots?

I have almost no activity. They tend to congregate here in spring then move on north in summer, then come back through in fall. I usually have 1 or 2 birds that take up long term residence but I haven't seen or heard any in the last month or so. So I'm only putting out a minimal amount of sugar water until activity picks up again.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Love to hear that so many people were inspired and feeding hummers after that, how lovely. I love the honeybirds name, and also just want to say thanks for mentioning putting red out on the clothesline years back! I tied my red bandana out that year and they showed up the next day. Since then, I save that bandana for only hummingbird attracting, and I hang it anywhere I want them to come to a feeder until they do, then I move it to the next spot.

So far, between 3 or 4 feeders depending on how busy they are, we have:
- Adult male (Traveler)
- Adult male (twig-neck, skinny fella)
- Adult male (just got done molting)
- Juvenile male (Tiny Tim)
- Juvenile male one throat patch
- Baby from this year, tiny short bill and tail feathers
- Adult female Tulip
-Adult female Twinkle
- Another adult gal

Our current group. We have so enjoyed seeing them!

 

[WVduckchick]

I’m seeing a few, haven’t been able to watch enough to make much identification, but I’ve seen at least 4 at a time. I have 2 feeders out, one on my front porch, and one around back.

We got a heavy rain one day, and a little one landed under the porch eave on the hanger arm above the feeder. She sits there quite often now.

 

[Blooie]

Watching is a grand way to spend time outside, isn‘t it?

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@WVduckchick - So nice to hear you are seeing hummingbirds in your parts! I sure love seeing photos of other hummies out and about.
I saw your feeder and wanted to share something with you. A lot of people still don't realize red dyes could do harm to the hummers, though to be honest I always grew up seeing it in the feeders. The big birding organizations all recommend making it yourself with no dyes - 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. I can testify we use this in our feeders and have been making it that way for years now, and they will definitely use it no problem. In the end, it also comes out cheaper than the store mixes and better for them too. It's very simple to make, and the red on your feeders alone will get them coming to it (some people hang a little red ribbon nearby to flap in the breeze to get their attention as well). The video below does a perfect job of explaining why red dyes should be left out of our feeders.