Hmmmm, I just might have to check Home Depot for some buddleia bargains. I still have 2 monarchs on my white buddleia and 2 on my potted asclepias curassavica's. They've been for a while now (over a week); always 2 on the buddleia & 2 on the milkweed. I keep my buddleias (for the most part) deadheaded, so with all this lovely weather we've been having, I have some nice blooms for the late migrators. Next year I'll have to do more A. curassavica; it always blooms until frost for me, and I'm sure the late monarchs appreciate it ;)

Blank spots like last evening and this morning indicate to me that it's migrants that I'm seeing. The cypress vine, which currently has thousands of flowers, is a sure morning indicator; if there isn't a bird on station it means there is nothing around. Conditions over the mid Atlantic region have been ideal for migration since the 3rd of September - light north and northwest winds. Our migrant trap along the Delaware River had been very active. Over the past two weekends we've recorded hundreds of warblers of at least 25 species, and a wide array of other neotropical migrants. In fact it has been so good that it has reminded us of the good old days before the migrant crash of the 1990s. With the warblers and thrushes and flycatchers come the hummingbirds, all told hundreds of millions of birds heading south across America.

My hummers disappeared for a while, presumably nesting and concentrating on insects for the babies, although they may also have been nectaring on the rhododendron mountains up the street. Now they're back, and I see them every day at the feeder. They don't stay at the feeder for long, they just take a few sips and zip off to the flowers. The meadow phlox are blooming now and the hummers love them. Re orioles: There are myriad ways of feeding oranges and jelly; you can buy fancy feeders but they're not necessary. One easy way is to hang an orange half from a hook, or impale it on a stick. The bird will eat out the orange flesh, then you can fill the empty rind with grape or other jelly. You can also put jelly in a bowl on a deck railing. I've put orange slices in a wire suet feeder and the orioles were happy. Catbirds like the oranges and jelly too. I have photos of different methods I've tried, but I'm hesitant to slow up this thread. Claire

Claire is correct - it's the timing. Excerpt from hummingbirds.net "Where did my hummers go? You watched the migration maps and hung your feeder in time to attract the first migrants. You kept the feeder clean and the syrup fresh, and were rewarded by lots of visits from migrants, then the activity settled down to regular appearances by the resident birds. Pretty cool hobby, eh? Then, perhaps in early May (depending on your latitude)... NO MORE HUMMERS! Where'd they all go? This didn't happen last year! Or did it? Welcome to the nesting season, folks. I'll discuss Ruby-throats in particular, but similar principles probably apply to most other species. Shortly after arriving, the females establish a nesting territory. Ruby-throats prefer secluded wetlands for nesting, if available, and proximity to your feeder is not an issue; in fact, females don't like to build nests in a male's feeding territory, and your feeder is probably part of one. Visits to distant feeders take too much time away from the eggs. When the chicks hatch, they need protein to grow, not sugar, so their mother spends most of her time catching small insects and spiders for them. During this period, I personally still see a male or two at my feeders, but typically only early or late in the day. I suspect that once their breeding duties are over, males tend to abandon territories and forage more widely to fatten up for migration. After the chicks fledge (leave the nest), expect the number of hummers at your feeder to be double what it was before the "disappearance." As summer progresses, there will be fewer natural hummingbird food sources available in many parts of the continent; feeders can have a real positive impact on the number of birds that survive, especially in the dry Midwestern U.S., so please keep them clean and fresh. And keep notes on your tiny visitors, if you like, so you can verify for yourself that this is a normal, annual process." I checked my photo library and all of my backyard hummers were photographed in July, August, and Sept. Been a long spring. Thank you, Claire. Kindly, Jane Here is a link that might be useful: hummingbirds.net