Hi Penny, Am getting so excited yet concerned since I just checked the map and no movement north since 3/18 or 3/19. Perhaps I am too impatient. Wonder if the big snowstorm in Illinos into Tennessee had anything to do with it. Hope it didn't catch any hummers by surprise although I know they are very savy about moving when a big storm is brewing. I am also hoping next week will be warmer!! Wonder if Lowe's or Home Depot has any flowering plants yet...have to take a trip. Our local garden market doesn't open util Palm Sunday. However I think this year I will buy some at Lowe's and keep on my sunporch. Would also like to learn more about winter sowing that you do...:) Carol

Hi Vicki, I was about 2 feet away from the feeder waiting patiently for either the male or the female to show up. The male shows up towards the evening so I have to use a flash. He is quite fearless as long as I'm prefectly still. I used a 200mm zoom lens to get the pictures. Camera used was a Nikon D2x at ISO 100. Have to take several pictures because many of them don't show the lovely coloring under the chin. Here is an example of on the pictures where the color did not show Hope this helps. Praveen.

Amazing picture! Wonder if any of the ones coming to my feeder now are juvie males? I gotta try to get a picture of them in the morning when the sun would be on them and the camera can capture the detail a bit better.

Carol, I love hearing them whizzing and whirring around the property. That make all sorts of sounds that are very interesting. We have a lot during spring migration and late summer migration, but fewer throughout the summer. Still, we usually have 6 or 8 or 10 around at any given moment during the summertime. I have to put out 4 or 5 or 6 different feeders because otherwise a couple of dominant males will "guard" and fight over a lone feeder or two. They do nest here and raise their young, and you know when you're near a tree or shrub containing a hummer nest because a hummer will come and fly in circles around your head trying to make you go away. We have a neighbor a mile or so south of us who has been feeding the hummingbirds for her whole adult life. (I believe she is in her 80s). She has a lot of feeders and probably dozens if not hundreds of hummers at her place on a regular basis. Her granddaughter told me she has to refill her feeders daily. I love having hummers around, but to feed then at the level she does would be a full-time job. Susan, I would expect to see the ruby-throats sometime soon just on the basis of how danged hot it is here now. They usually aren't far behind the rufous when it comes to finding us in spring. I may or may not see black-chinned hummingbirds in the spring, but they always visit in the summer. When we moved here, I never expected to see anything but the ruby-throats, so having lots of rufous and the occasional black-chinned hummer is a bonus. American Cross Vine is native and it used to be found all over Texas. Now, with the continual conversion of wild land full of native plants into housing subdivisions with nicely manicured lawns, it is not as common as it once was. We always had it in Texas, and it was one of the first vines I planted when we moved here because I knew if I planted it we'd always have hummers. It is not invasive anywhere that I've grown it, but I've only grown it on clay soil---black gumbo clay in Texas and Red River red clay here in OK. I suppose it has the potential to become invasive in good sandy loam, but have no idea if it does become invasive. The hummers love it. Because I wanted hummers, the other vine I planted right away after the house was built was trumpet creeper. I don't care how invasive it is, I still love it and have planted it in several locations. We have both the orange-flowered one and the yellow-flowered one. Another vine that is a huge hit with the hummers is coral honeysuckle. I have "Pink Lemonade" honeysuckle on the cedar entry arbor that leads into my veggie garden, and it has hummers visiting it from sunrise to sunset when it is blooming. Their favorite tree (and I know it is a trash tree but they love it and I love it so I planted it anyway) is the mimosa that I planted just west of my garden. They surely do love the mimosa. They also like the Chaste Tree and Desert Willow tree. All the above vines plus some of the common annual vines (especially morning glories) are faves of the hummers. Their favorite non-vining plant has to be the Texas Hummingbird Sage. I planted a packet of seed of Texas Hummingbird Sage from Seeds of Change about our 2nd or 3rd year here and it has reseeded itself ever since. I plant other annual sages and the hummers visit them too, but Texas Hummingbird Sage always draws the largest crowd. I see hummers at the Laura Bush petunias too and I'm sure they visit many other flowers, but if I am in the garden, I'm usually too busy to stand and watch them to see which flowers they're going to. We have hummers that live here and they return every year. I know which ones are the returnees because if I hang the feeders in different spots than they have been in during previous years, the returnees hover and buzz at the places where the feeders "used to be". They don't like change! The regulars are quite used to me and follow me around the yard. They'll sit on top of a tomato cage, the garden fence or even the electric line and hang out for a while and watch me work. If I go back towards the house, the resident hummers follow me there. I have to be really careful because sometimes when I go into the house, they follow me right inside. It is never a good thing for a hummer to come into a house with a cat or cats inside. Chaos ensues. I have to throw the cats out, calm down the bird and then guide the bird back to the door so it can fly out. Sometimes I have to catch them by cupping my hands around them while they're at the window trying to fly back outside. One year, the hummers or possibly one single repeat offender, would follow me into the house, go straight to the ceiling fan, perch on a fan blade and ride the ceiling fan around and around and around. It was bizarre. It hasn't happened since that one summer, so I think we had a hummer who thought the ceiling fan was an amusement park. Finally, I cannot wear red when working in the garden or the hummers become convinced I am a flower and keep trying to land on me. Dawn