Yay! Good for you Kristin ! I'm glad the wait is over.

Anita

Congrats! My first visitor is normally a female, and I believe my lucky day is May 9th. As strange as it may seem, it must be the same female the last 3 years; she always tracks me down and flutters in front of my face for a few seconds. She does the same thing when she leaves; it's truly bizarre. I hope she graces me with her "hello" again. I've been impatiently checking the feeder alot today, hoping she'd be early. I have plenty of Lady In Red and Coral Nymph salvias just waiting for her ;) I bought a flat of LIR and a half flat of CN. I had winter sown plenty of both, but they're still tiny seedlings, and I'm extremely impatient at this point. They've been in NJ for over a month already!!!!

Kristin

Congrats on your first visitor!! I hope they dont tease you like they are doing me. Since april 30 I have had four visits and they were all males but they didnt stay here. I will be glad when my regulars are here. Good luck.

Hummersteve, maybe one of your wandering males will find his way over here. I think my lonely little lady could use some male companionship!

Also, Hummersteve, did you notice my Relative Breeding Abundance thread? It's a link to a map, showing that during the breeding season, you are in an area of relative abundance for breeding hummingbirds. Not so for me, and a lot of other people, although I suppose that locally they might reach very high densities, but just not get recorded on that map of the entire country. I've decided that if I expand my garden enough, maybe those breeding bird surveyors will have to put a darker pink dot over our yard!

Also, thanks Anita, and Tracey. I can very much relate to your impatience, Tracey, but imagine she will be showing up soon. They move mysteriously, and by their own schedules, which don't always jibe with our expectations or with those dots on the migration map. That's cute the way she buzzes you. Any idea why she does that? Is she trying to tell you the sugar water needs changing, or just saying hello, or thanks, perhaps? I took a picture of mine today from inside the house, and when the shutter went off (but no flash), she stopped sipping and moved closer to the window to check me out. Then she zipped off to parts unknown. She's really is a precious little cutie. I hope she stays.

There is a cedar tree in my yard that I can usually find a hummer nest in. I don't always look too hard cause I don't want to disturb them when nesting, but I can always find the remnants later in the year.

I can understand why they like cedar trees, they are difficult for predators to get into. I am thinking of planting more deliberately.

I saw a male this morning in my garden near Allentown. I am fortunate to have found blooming Lady In Red salvia and a greggi (sp?) type this week. The hummer was working on a dwarf rhododendron which produces single deep red flowers. It is so windy and cold here. Maybe too crazy for the feeder, which is pitching wildly.

Kristin

Took a look at your breeding map and it certainly does appear to cover my area doesnt it. There doesnt seem to be a lot of those areas widespread. Im puzzled by the activities of the hmmers this year I dont remember it being this way, but it seems these hummers that have stopped here have more northerly designs in mind and that may be very good for you and maybe you will get one of these males for the are not staying here. The fact that I have not seen a female yet may account for the puzzlement. I suspect that when a female finally gets that a male will possbly be along soon and they can set up housekeeping. And then maybe I will have a regular grouping then. In the meantime I dont mind their stopping and drinking untill they get to their destination , which just might be PA.

Kristen:
It's definitely not that the water needs changing; I'm pretty good about changing it frequently, even if they're not here yet. I honestly don't know her motives, but it seems to me to be a "Hello, I'm here". She only does this when she shows up and when she leaves; never during her stay, if she even does stay. Maybe she just passes through, beats me ;)

Tracey

Your episode with your female hummer reminds me of a comical incident last summer for me. It was early last year and I only had one window feeder out. I was gone on this particular day and there had been a storm. Upon returning I found the feeder was broken either due to the storm or hummer antics. When the hummers came around the would land on the remaining suctions cups and look in the window at me like "wheres my food' for there was no feeder there. They were letting me know they werent happy about it, but it me a couple days to get another feeder up. It just made me laugh that they would land on the suction cups and actuallly look in the window for me.

5 minutes ago in the NE corner of Ohio, Ashtabula, my first hummer arrived. Maybe the old JGB bootleg drew him in?

You're talking to a lady who makes her own hummingbird feeders, using mini 50ml liquor bottles. I hope the hummers aren't too disappointed when there's no booze, and all they find is plain old sugar water!