Marilyn, a bear knocking out my kitchen window would make me crazy! Not in the daytime, but won't they get bolder? Deer do. About feeders, my ones on shepherd's hooks in the front yard have been okay at night. However, we have had to bring the deck feeders in at night for about a month because they were raided several times, each time rougher and more aggressively.. The first few times, they were just dry in the morning, and a suet feeder was not touched. Then the;y were dry and one knocked down, suet still left alone. Finally, .they were knocked down and the suet feeder completely eaten out, mud in the birdbath underneath. We thought maybe raccoons. If I thought it was a bear, I would want to buy an elephant gun. I certainly would have to bring them in at dusk because I'd be too afraid to venture out there at night.

Peonies will release fluid when the carpels are ripe for breeding but the hummers are probably eating the small bugs/ants etc that can cluster around the blooms.

Female rubythroat. It would be very rare to have any other kind of hummer in the Mid-Atlantic, although they do show up in very low numbers with some regularity. Female rubythroats lack the male's bright red throat.

I have been feeding hummingbirds for at least 15 yrs. Have 7 12oz feeders scattered over my yard and have plantings of bee balm, royal catchfly, and cardinal flower. Hummers normally start arriving in mass in June. Usually reach peak numbers middle of July and stay high through Sept. Start tapering off in Oct. and gone by November, although several times they have stayed in December. Most years I have around 50 hummers. Feeders need filled about every 3-4 days. This year I had a very high number going into Oct. Left to spend 3 days in the north Ga. mountains and when we returned the hummers were gone. Have not seen one since. Anyone else ever had this happen ?