We still have hummers hanging around here in the midwest. We aren't experiencing the same problems with drought as our neighbors in the SouthWest, but I plan keep my feeders out as long as I see birds. Same with fresh water. A link that might be useful: http://www.wildbirdhabitatstore.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=237:special-report-drought-birds&catid=2&Itemid=195

Caroline, Some years we have a lot but other years we don't. This has been an outstanding year for them--perhaps the best year since we moved here in 1999. We have a neighbor (a wonderful, older lady whom we adore) a couple of miles south of us who has been feeding them for about 60 years and has tons and tons of feeders and tons of hummers like you're used to seeing in Colorado. She's the only person I know of here who can routinely count her hummers in the dozens, or maybe hundreds, daily. Carol, You know, I had wondered about that. USUALLY, by this point, a lot of hummers have already reached the Texas Coast. (Rockport had to cancel its' annual hummingbird festival scheduled for this coming weekend......I hope someone told the hummers so they could head back north!) We HAVE had some fronts coming down out of the north, and often hummers "ride the wave" of air that pushes down with a cold front--that's one way they increase their migration efficiency. So, while the recurring cold fronts could have carried a lot of them down, I think they are not in a hurry to go farther south. I've been in the kitchen a lot this week--baking goodies for DH to take to work for his overworked colleagues (having to staff and coordinate air evacuations and their emergency operations center in additional to routine police work). I have a feeder AND some hummingbird plants right outside the kitchen window, and I have had many, many birds to enjoy as I work there at the counter. I can tell when a lot of "strangers" are visiting because they (a) freak out when they look in the window and see me; ((b) get trapped on the screened-in porch when trying to take a shortcut from the feeder and plants on the south side of the house to those on the west side of the house; and (c) get trapped inside the 40' x 30' red barn....and I have to lure them out by hanging a feeder in a doorway, or they fly back and forth up near the high peaked roof until they literally drop to the floor in exhaustion. The "regulars" are familiar with the set-up of our place and tend to avoid (a) through (c). If, indeed, the birds are hanging around here in southern OK to avoid Ike, I'm proud of them for being so smart! I know that a Tropical Storm Wind Watch has been issued for the Dallas-Fort Worth area for Sat. morning through Sun. morning, so think the birds are better off here than there. Dawn

Sorry, I had not been keeping up on this thread. Thanks for the report, Ksokiegonnab. Gamebird, if the caterpillars are on parsley, then they are indeed Black swallowtails. If they can continue to eat with this "cooler" weather that we are having, they will wander off, and find a sheltered area to make a chrysalis. They will overwinter as a chrysalis, and emerge on a warm day in the spring. Moths tend to burrow down into loose soil or debris, and make a cocoon, to emerge in the spring. Betty, thanks for your exciting report of the Monarchs in your yard! Butterflies are very host specific on what they lay their eggs on. Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed. Snow on the Mountain is not in the milkweed family. Perhaps, there is milkweed in the alley or pasture nearby??? If you have parsley or fennel in your yard, the caterpillars may have been Black swallowtails. The tropical milkweed is easy to obtain and grow. It is an excellent nectar source, as well as host plant for the Monarchs to lay their eggs on. You may be able to find some native mw growing in some fencelines or pastures, and find some with some interesting seedpods, tobring some seeds home for a native plant area. As you increase your nectar and host plants in your garden, you will begin to find lots of butterflies seeking out your yard. Good luck with your garden, and thanks for your interest.

I hope it's ok for me to add this photo here I am so proud of these little guys my first Obesa from my own seed with this years seed at top of photo. The seeds have sprouted and looks like I will have a nice little group to play with. Try again for sure it is so cool to watch them go through there changes.