I love the hummingbirds also. We seem to have about the same number each year - around 8 pairs show up in the spring then the number increases when the young start flying. I have 3 feeders and don't think I could keep up with 5 feeders or afford them:). We have mostly Black-chinned with 1 or 2 Ruby throated ones. Might see a Rufous as it passes through. Sometimes I sit on the patio near the feeders and they will come and hover & chirp in front of me. One accidentally hit the window a stunned itself. I was able to get photos of it sitting on my husband's hand. I'm going to try and give a link to one of the images.

Here is a link that might be useful: hummingbird on istockphoto

Pattie,

What a little cutie! It sure looks calm and serene just sitting there doesn't it!

Last week I opened the doors of the barn-style garage (looks like a big red barn) to let cool evening air into it before I put the 4 outdoor dogs into the garage to sleep. (Can't sleep outside because of plentiful coyotes and the occasional mountain lion or panther.)

A hummer was lying there on the floor when the dogs and I walked in a few minutes later. I picked it up with a dust pan (amazingly the dogs just stood and stared at it on the floor and made no move towards it) and sat it on a stool underneath a hummingbird feeder. It's eyes were closed and I was worried it would not recover from the stupor it was in, but it did.

I just love the hummers and they are such a joy to have around.

Dawn

Well....I'm still waiting :(
My neighbor told me that he usually has them, but neither of us has seen ANY yet. I have a feeder out on my front porch and one in the back as well. I changed out the liquid (and added a bit of the orange extract), but I think I'm going to have to change it again...it's getting cloudy. I have cosmos, morning glories, and roses out front. In the back are pentas, lantana, bacopa, the little purple flowers that look like miniature petunias (name escapes me right now..), among others.
Someone needs to come up with a hummingbird caller :)

Sharon,

It is possible that a lot of people in your neighborhood spray for insects with broad-spectrum pesticides. If that is the case, it may be the reason hummers are staying away. And, if your city or county do a lot of pesticide spraying to kill mosquitoes, you probably won't see any hummers. In addition to drinking nectar, hummers eat tons of insects and I believe they carry insects back to the nest to feed their babies. If a city or neighborhood has a lot of pesticide users, they see fewer hummers.

That's about the only thing I could think of that would cause hummers to avoid an area. Clearly they won't nest in an area if they can't find insects there to eat.

I wish you had some hummers. They are such a joy to have around.

Dawn

Oh...I know how great they are! I'll never forget watching the first time I saw a courtship flight...unbelievable!
I hadn't thought about pesticides being part of the problem. I'm not sure about their use around me; it seems as though there are plenty of mosquitoes each evening. Then again, I have seen ONE butterfly...a little gray hairstreak; one honeybee, and one foam-green sweat bee...that's it besides the mosquitoes. This IS sort of weird...either I'm losing my observation skills, or there is a problem here!!
I'll keep hoping...and looking :)

I have five feeders and two or three regular hummingbirds every year. Lately I haven't seen them so much of them at the feeders but have seen them on the trumpet vine so I have sort of neglected the feeders and not changed them out as often as I should have. This morning I was sitting on the deck away from the feeders and all of a sudden had a little ruby throat hovering right in my face. I wasn't wearing red, so there was no reason for it to have been attracted to my personal space. I figured it was telling me to get up and change the feeders - so I did.

Sharon,

The lack of certain bugs in certain regions is a topic of a lot of discussion on various forums here at GardenWeb. Some people are reporting they are seeing very few insects of any kind when they usually have a lot. The general concensus is that the late cold weather experienced in many regions may have interfered with the growth of bug populations.

With the butterfly population in general, the population goes through up and down cycles. Since we had huge populations of butterflies the last couple of years, it is not a total surprise they are down in numbers this year.

By contrast, grasshoppers haven't been a mjor problem here in quite a few years, but we have a ton of them this year. They seem to go in cycles that peak every 6 to 8 years.

Pat, sometimes I think they do try to communicate with us. I have had them come and buzz me in the garden and when I "follow" them they will lead me to an empty feeder.

I have a red poppy-print shirt that just drives them crazy. I can't even wear it outside right now because every hummer in the yard has to come and check out every single poppy on the shirt....it is as if they figure out that "some" of the poppies aren't real, but have to keep coming back and checking each one to be sure that every poppy is fake.

Dawn

Hummingbird lovers might enjoy this. (5 pages)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hummingbird Babies

Carol,

Oh, those photographs were something to see. Those tiny baby hummies were sort of ugly, but it all worked out in the end. : )

Dawn

I was having a Great year also, until the bees moved in.. now my feeders are down, and I am not seeing as many.. but I do have flowers that they love.

Kirts, I have had a lot of trouble with ants and bees in the past, so now I only buy feeders that have ant moats and bee guards. I still have to be careful where I hang the feeders, though. If I put them in a location that possums and raccoons can access, they drain the feeders at night. We have several orange-flowered and yellow-flowered trumpet creepers in bloom right now and lots of blooming flowers--especially Texas hummingbird sage and other salvias, and Laura Bush petunias too--so the hummers have lots of dining options. They seem to be spending quite a lot of time in and around the desert willow tree which is blooming now too.

Dawn

Dawn,
Funny but I think we really do have a nest of bees really close by... the bees have learned to get around the bee guard on the one I do have a guard on,
I need to put one up, and take a shot of the bees.. it is really funny how they are getting to the food.
But I need the bees on my flowers and veggs and not in the hummingbird feeders all day. :)

I never have seen so many bees as I have this year..
Ants I had problems in the past with them, but this year.. hmm, not really, even the fire ants are not as bad as they where last year.

I don't know that we have as many ants as past years, and I like 'em in general because they are great scavengers--you know, they carry away a lot of carcasses of dead insects. The ones we do have, though, really go after the hummingbird nectar if they get a chance.

I think hummingbird feeders are like fast food for bees--they COULD go and get nectar from plants in the normal way, but why bother if that fast food restaurant is right there and convenient. LOL

We do not have a shortage of bees here--always got lots and lots. A farmer friend of ours who lives maybe a little over a mile from us says he never has bees any more, and I don't know what to tell him. (Well, he sprays pesticides and he KNOWS they kill the bees, and he tries to spray when bees are not active, but I think his pesticide use probably is the problem.)

At our house we have bees 12 months out of the year. In the winter months where their food supply varies from being extremely limited to non-existent, they come to the bird feeders, the hen scratch and the deer corn.

I would say that, in light of the bee Colony Collapse Disease issues facing many, it is WONDERFUL that you have a lot of bees. Maybe all of us in rural areas can at least nurture and keep the bees we have even though the professional beekeepers are stuggling with CCD.

Dawn

pssst... I think that the CCD is bees on strike.

When they start messing around and sending bees off on trucks, they should expect problems to start..

I think all the bees have gone on vacation and moved where they can get some peace.