I've seen 4 more this week, 1 at my feeder and 3 buzzin in the flowers.

Every evening now at 7:45 the DW and I head out back, take down two of the feeders, become part of the yard art and hold them in our hand. They're here throughout the entire day but dawn is when they get very active and abundant. Dancing, drinking, fighting and a whole mess of talking abound. If you've never had a few males chasing each other a few inches from your face...try it :) The key is just to sit still and when they come close to the feeder, don't move your eyeballs until they start feeding.

Kristi, my DW says the same thing. They're so tiny you think they're so cute and sweet but boy they sure are selfish! Below is one of our fatties. After he eats at the window he sits on this same branch waiting for another male to show up at *his* feeder and promptly tells him how our yard is not big enough for the both of them.

Glad y'all are starting to see them!

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I saw 2 hummingbirds this weekend in Hays county. On Sat one flew right up in my face and buzzed me and then on Sunday another came up and stuck his nose into my (empty) feeder. It's like they are screaming "feed us! feed us!"... so I did! :)

Okay....here's my first pic. I have the feeder hanging on one of my tomato cages and the wire of the cage seems to fit their feet perfectly. Anyhow, I KNOW it's not the best pic, but I picked up a window feeder today and hope to have a better one soon :).

Kristi

I'm happy for you all that have your hummers. Really I am.

I still got nothin.

Melvalena, keep your chin up. I am west of you and have had one, so I'm sure you have them too. I didn't see mine today but I know they are here.....somewhere.

I'm trying to Beeanne! I thought for sure I'd see one last week.
Everyday, I think "today is the day"! But nuthin....

I spend a lot of time outside, and I have a huge (8 X 4) kitchen window and a glass sliding door facing the back where most of my feeders are. that's almost a whole wall of glass to look out.
During the summer I see them constantly. During morning coffee and eve after dinner I could sit out there and see bunches come and go.
But so far I haven't seen a one. :(

My family is sick of hearing me whine about it...so you guys get to listen to me now. :)

Activity is starting to pickup here in Justin. DW had one hover at our open back door. She thought he was going to come in!!! Said he/she was very green all over. Very different from the black-chinned that I've been seeing.

Kristi- you're pretty gutsy posting that picture barely showing your hummer. Maybe the 'sharks' have finished feeding (on me). ; - )

"Kristi- you're pretty gutsy posting that picture barely showing your hummer. Maybe the 'sharks' have finished feeding (on me). ; - )"

LOL, thanks JD for being the sacrificial lamb ;).

I have a question for all of you though...Since I put up the window feeder, they have ignored it and continued to use the other feeder exclusively. Should I take down the other feeder to leave them only the window feeder? The two feeders are within sight of eachother.... I figured that since now that I have more than one hummer, and one of them has laid claim to the other feeder, that the window feeder would be attractive to the less dominant one. But he just gets chased away and ignors the window feeder...... Thanks in advance for your help :)

Kristi

Kristi,

Move the other feeder out of sight of the first one. Or put up a bunch more feeders.

I have them scattered all over the place. Many of them are with in sight of each other. But several are not.
What happens later in the summer, is one hummer will lay claim to them all, but can't defend all at once.

There will be turf wars and many battles. Eventually they all get some time at the feeders while several others are buzzing around. The feeders aren't the hummers' main food source.
They have to feed on bugs and flower nectar too so there's always a lot of coming and going.

The feeder up next to my window gets visited the least.

i'm in sa, tx and seen my first on 3-15 but heard them a day or two before, but like you melvlena, i start going crazy to see them about jan of early feb and my family goes nuts hearing about it, i have about at least 30 buzzing and am having a hard time keeping feeders full. black chin, ruby throat and a few other species some has purple band on throat

Here's a picture I took a few days ago. I'm only seeing this one hummer now, using both feeders which are about nine feet apart, in view of each other. The other feeder is on a window. I think I'll have to move one out of view so he'll have to share. That is, until I can put up several, like Melvalena. Let the Bird Wars begin!

I love that pic.

Dad Gummit! Saw my first female this evening. When I went to push the "take a picture" button, I hit the off button, sigh.......

By the way...I moved the other feeder out of sight of the window feeder. They came and checked out one feeding hole, then the other feeding hole and left the window feeder. It was a different solution (powdered) that I used in the window feeder and they just looked like they didn't like it. Soooo, I emptied it and re-filled it with the concentrate solution. They've been feeding at the window feeder since the change all day and this evening :).

Kristi

Thanks! This hummer is kinda skittish. He doesn't like to come around when I'm standing there, no matter how still I am. Had to wait a while for this shot. I took this one while I was waiting there, a bit earlier. Does that tell you how long I waited? : )

LOL Kristi--isn't it frustrating? I've done that!

I think they see their reflection in the windows while approaching the feeders and it spooks them. They also don't really like my feeder up on the porch. Maybe they feel a little 'hemmed in' on the porch with only 1 or 2 escape paths. They seem to REALLY like the 97 cent feeders hanging from the tree. SOMEDAY, they will love my B&B salvia, butterfly bush, turk's cap, gaura, s. greggi 'flame' etc. (thanks Carrie!!!)

Brenda, we sure are getting our share of them aren't we? The ruby's and broad-tailed (very similar to ruby) will hang around for a little while but we'll have the BC'd all summer :) The one you mentioned with the purple gorget is probably a black-chinned. Next time you see it, look for the little white dot behind the eye.

So glad to see everyone's reports on the hummers. Think I could convince anyone not to use the red dye? :)

I hope so, mnktx, as it is really not good for them. Sugar water is still the best thing to fill your feeders with = 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. I finally saw my first one about a week ago, so all my feeders are up now, but they are still feeding mostly on the flowers.

TaDAAAAAA!

Kristi

Kristi, PERFECTION! I have never been able to get a pic of mine - not enough patience, I suppose.

Great photo, Kristi! Wish I could get mine to sit still!

mnktx and Carrie, this is the store-bought mix which comes red like that. I've always used the red mix just till the hummers found the feeders, and then switched to homemade since it's cheaper; I figured the red would help to attract them initially. I knew I wasn't supposed to use food coloring in my homemade mixture, but figured the companies who made the mix professionally had some kind of *safe* red dye. Is this not true?

Ah Kristi, great shot of that little cutie!

Pam

Finally Kristi! Congrats :)))

In regards to the red dye, I was hoping not to come across as a no dye activist by any extreme! There's a LOT of rumors about the pros and cons but there has been no substantial research to prove harmful effects (nor beneficial for that matter)...on hummers and this is what I usually hear from the red dye 'ok' supporters if you will. BUT, there has been studies on the effects of red dyes in mice with negative effects. The dye that is used is approved by our all-knowing government for *human* consumption but those that have cats know they dare not give a Tylenol to them at risk of death. Same thing goes in my opinion...just because it's okay for humans, doesn't make it ok for wildlife. The dye is usually made from coal tar and last I checked, not many things eat tar :) I also consider their size. If I take 800mg of ibuprofen...headache gone. But that same amount to an infant?

I also stay away from store bought nectars because they often sit on shelves a lot and has to have some form of preservative added to protect the almighty bottom line.

About attracting them initially...they have much better vision that we do. Like many birds, they can see a much broader range of colors and into the UV spectrum. They're attracted to flowers which are usually small objects amongst brown and green, not huge red honkers. They'll see the red from the feeder alone well enough. I put up the window feeder on a 2nd story window and they were at it within 10 minutes.

If you're up to it, you can hang two identical feeders side by side in a spot they're already hitting, one with the red dye or store bought nectar and one you make of 1:4 cane sugar water and see which gets more activity after a few days. I think it would be fun for you to try so I won't post my results :)

My 2.5 cents.

Either way, good photo and glad you're getting them now!

Kristi, it's like it's right in front of me, great pic
I tried to get a shot of some yesterday but you can't take pics of hummers and have sneezing fits, lol

You lucky people!!!!!
Still no activity here that I have seen...but I've been dealing with the lightning strike that knocked out our Verizon TV, phone, and Internet last night. Thank goodness that's all that got damaged.

They were here first thing this morning and I've been playing catch up ever since!

once again it's overcast but decided to do a few closeups of them. Enjoy!

Marc

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Marc, those are great!! No wonder they have such good eyesight, those little eyes are intense.

I don't like the close ups as well, lol they don't look as sweet close up, LOL

Marc, those are incredible! Wow!

You scared of a lil'o hummingbird Jolana? I happen to think they are adoooorable up close. Think I've hogged this thread enough so I'll squeeze in this last one.

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Excellent photo of the subtle colors!!

Kristi

LOL, that one is too, too cute, the other ones were not...to me

Marc, I just have to ask, how do you get the lighting on these little creatures? This one is superb - reflections of all the colors.

Carrie, it helped that the sun finally came through and it was during the magic hour. I also pulled out my gold reflector to get some more fill light. I also used some exposure compensation...hence the blown out greens in the background. Glad you liked it :)

Marc

Wow Marc, great pictures!

I have 5 feeders out and have to refill at least 3 times a day.
the hummers are every where. will try to get pictures tomorrow

I saw one!!!I saw one!!!!!

Just a few moments ago on one of my feeders!!

As soon as I realized it, he took off! :(
Guess I skeered him.

I was inside, I don't know how he heard me suck in my breath but he did!

I'm so excited!!

Mel,
Are you SURE that wasn't Marc dangling a stuffed hummingbird at your feeder??
J.D.

Melvalena, I'm so happy for you. JD might be right tho, lol

NOPE!!! It was a REAL hummer!!! And it was on MY feeder!!!

:)

Ok, so, where are the pictures?????
You didn't think you were going to get off that easy, did you?

I bet DH had the camera in the bass boat, didn't he??
; - )

J.D.

"It was a REAL hummer!!! And it was on MY feeder!!!"

Oh sure......where's your pic, Melvalena??

ROFL, just kidding. So glad you saw your first one, more will be soon to follow :). Good for you, glad you didn't injure yourself getting a better look ;).

Kristi

man are my ears cooold!!!

so ah, anyone wanna buy a stuffed hummingbird?

hahaha!

I had the camera sitting right here...both of 'em! Hubby left the one good one, the one that can zoom real good for me. But that little bugger was gone the instant I realized he was there. No time for pictures.
Soon though.. I'll get a picture soon.

Stuffed hummingbird...sure...Next Christmas I'm going to find me some hummer tree ornaments and just hang them all over my yard! I'll never be with out my hummers then!

Yeah, you tell us Melva, lol
I believe you, I can't get a pic either

Here you go Melvalena

Now I have to explain how Mel got a picture of HER hummingbird out MY kitchen window???? and my socks are picked up????

"Mel got a picture of HER hummingbird out MY kitchen window"

Heeheehee, a GardenWeb scandal!!

Kristi

Oh, if those little hummers just knew what they have stirred up !!!!! Such scandal - AND posted on the forum!!!