When my orange trumpet vine stops flower ...which it has for the most part they leave. Makes me sad too. When they are around they use my second floor clothesline as a resting perch...I enjoy their company very much when I'm working in the laundry room. They know I'm in there I've had them look in the window at me but they aren't afraid.

I saw one yesterday, sipping at my lantana. It's probably a migrant. It snacked, then perched in the little amelanchier tree nearby and fluffed its feathers - it was a real treat to watch it rest for a minute before it buzzed off into the hemlock trees.

Laurel

Laurel
You were so lucky to see one yesterday! We keep looking for a straggler but no luck so far.

Carol
They just love that orange trumpet vine...don't they? They must be adorable perching on your second floor clothesline and looking in your window. What fun!

Thanks for your response......Jean

I also saw one yesterday. Came through, hit the salvia and a few other things on the patio, checked out my pink roses that are blooming (silly hummer), and then took off. Probably migrating.

I'm 12 miles south of the Quebec border. My one hummer left a couple of weeks ago,and I miss her!

Nancy

Hi Jean and All!

I was going to ask too. I had a resident female (since all of the males have been gone for over a week or two) yesterday morning until about 08:00 AM. I haven't seen her since.

The day before there was another female straggler.

Nothing at the feeders today so I'm going to assume there off and flying. It's such a let down to know there gone :>(

I have a friend who keeps logs and I wrote him yesterday and he said that this year was the longest that any of them have stayed at his feeders.

Orange Trumpet Vine is one of the hummers most favorite food I found out.
It grows very quickly and easily in my yard and the birds seem to know it.

Wow!

I can't believe it! I just walked in the door at 6:20PM from my grandaughters soccer game. The temp is and was 55 and the wind gusts at 20 mph+ with driving rain on 2 occasions on an open field made it feel like 30 and needless to say froze butt my butt off.

Two bright spots were my goalie grandaughter's team won 6 to 0 and when I looked out my rear deck door I had a straggler female hummer and was she sucking it up. Hope she has a good nights rest before she leaves probably in the morning.

Jim

Hi All!

My straggler is back this morning at 07:20 AM. She has a distinct 1/4" round spot of black on her white breast feathers. And like last night she is extremely wary of me. She can see me peering at her from a distance of 20' from the decks storm door window as she is facing me.

I sort of scared her last night as she flew away even though I moved away ever so slowly. I changed that pattern this morning as she is on the same perch and only moved when she was feeding and moved even slower, it took about 2 minutes to clear the window. I thought I would come up and write this and then go back down to see if she were still there?

IÂm back. She was gone from the feeder. ItÂs raining slightly and the Sun is up with a rainbow to the west. You donÂt see to many westerly rainbows nor (hummers this time of year). IÂm so glad I made a fresh batch of mix the other day. Penny! You might be interested in knowing it was a 3/1 mix like you suggested for the spring returnees instead of the normal 4/1 during their stay. Thanks for enlightening me!

IÂll watch throughout the day and this evening to she if she hangs around. It will certainly be one or the other, interesting or saddening.

Jim

My last 2 resident hummers left on Sept. 15th This past Tuesday (Sept. 19th) a migrant female showed up. She never used any of the feeders but was all over Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' and Salvia guaranitica 'Van Remsen'. She left as soon as she got refueled. Haven't seen any others since. Took down all but 2 feeders...one in back and one in front. In about two weeks I will take down one more feeder and will leave the last one up for the winter in the event a western vagrant shows up. Rufous hummimngbirds have been known to fly northeast instead of southeast on numerous occasions and are more cold hardy than our rubythroats as their breeding territory is as far north as Alaska.

Penny

I haven't seen one for about 2 weeks. Sad. But they'll be back next year and hopefully we'll all be here to see them.
I haven't done anything to prepare for the end of the summer season. All my garden toys are still out and none of the beds are cleaned out. I still have some flowers. Maybe next week I'll gather them up and put them away.

Hi to all---

I keep looking just in case a migrant happens to show up...but no luck so far!

Thanks for all your imput!

Jean

Hi All!

The female with the black mark on her breast feathers was back Thurs night and Fri morning. I had just one large feeder still up. It has the narrow neck closer to the ports. I marked the glass with a Sharpie on Thursday morning as she was really going to town.

I also felt really sorry for her as she was the most skiddish bird I've ever had. It leads me to believe she wasn't to close to humans during her stay's up north as she was an adult bird.

I was surprised to see her Friday morning. I thought for sure she drank enough on Thursday. After she seemed to have her fill and gone from the feeder I was surprised to see that just over 3/4 of an inch was gone (and mainly in the narrow neck portion.) I thought she looked like she was putting on some weight during here short stay. Of course that always happens to my wife during "the short" holiday season too :>)

But no doubt I think their pretty well gone. I did have an e-mail from a friend today 9/25 that I'll paste. He lives in Liverpool and logs every encounter. He said this was the longest duration he has ever seen. Jim

Jim, We still have a female who came often yesterday 9/24, to be honest I am a little worried. There is a condition that can arise in first year fledgling's where the need to migrate hasn't imprinted on their instinctual brain. When that happens, they simply stick around and end up dying at first frost. Lets hope that isn't the case here ---

Jim,
Last year I have a juvenile female who stayed with me until the 10th of October. I was getting very concerned also even though last fall was very mild. She did finally leave and I am pretty sure she was one of my females that returned this year. She always let me go right up to her and would fly to the back door and perch if I wasn't outside. This year I had a female that also let me walk right up to her and perched by the back door or would fly down from the tree and perch close to where ever I was. She also came over to me while I was trimming off some monardas that were getting past their prime and took nectar from the remaining flowers while I was holding them. The current cold front may help to push your friend's little female on her journey south. There are still plenty of natural nectar sources available and many more people are leaving feeders up longer for later migrants to insure that they have a food source along the way. They can survive temps below freezing for short periods of time. If your friend uses a feeder, he may want to switch to a 3:1 sugar / water ratio right now. This will sustain her for longer periods and put on necessary fat quicker.

Also there are quite a few hummer gardeners up in Ontario, Canada, Wisconsin, and Minnesota that still have hummers

Penny